Institutional racism (or structural racism or systemic racism) is a form of racism that occurs in institutions such as public bodies and corporations, including universities. The term was coined by black nationalist, pan-Africanist and honorary prime minister of the Black Panther Party Stokely Carmichael. In the late 1960s, he defined the term as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin"."Analysing ethnic education policy-making in England and Wales", Richard W. Race

In the UK, the inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence accused the police force of being institutionally racist, an accusation that has subsequently been levelled at the media by Sir Ian Blair."Met chief accuses media of racism", BBC, 26 January 2006

Institutional racism is distinguished from the bigotry or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systematic yet covert policies and practices that have the effect of disadvantaging certain racial or ethnic groups. Race-based discrimination in housing (see restrictive covenants) and bank lending (see redlining), for example, are forms of institutional racism.

The term institutional racism has also, somewhat controversially, been applied to policies, systems, and processes which are not necessarily caused by intentional racism but which have the effect of disadvantaging certain racial groups. For instance, the use of standardized testing has also been termed institutional racism by some commentators, who claim that this kind of assessment is significantly influenced by cultural and social background, with the supposed result that in much of the Western world racial minorities tend to score lower. Detractors of this view point out that the tests are usually intended to determine the aptitude of the candidate for the subject that is being tested, and if it so happens that a particular racial minority has a lower than average aptitude (just as if a particular racial minority has a higher than average aptitude) then that is simply a fact and as such cannot be racist, institutionally or otherwise.

Charges of institutional racism have been applied to other governmental, social, and educational policies as well. For example, the eagle feather law (50 CFR 22), which governs the possession and religious use of eagle feathers, has met various legal challenges and charges of racial discrimination due to the law’s strict limitation of the possession of eagle feathers to members of only one ethnic group, Native Americans. Other examples of institutional racism abound, including the use of ethnic mascots in popular sports, the over-representation of minorities in the prison inmate population, and the under-representation of minorities in the media, advanced positions in academia and various professions.

Moreover, employers, the primary users of the results of such tests, make decisions based upon the scores of individuals, not on the basis of average results for a particular social group; even if the result is that fewer members of a particular racial minority are employed in a particular field, it does not necessarily follow that racial discrimination has taken place (to argue that it does is a classic non sequitur).

Criticisms

Some feel that the term “institutional racism” is overly politically correct, and too often misused in cases where there was no racist intent.

In the U.S., Affirmative Action has been employed by government entities and public and private institutions in an effort to ameliorate the effects of institutional racism. Some, however, oppose Affirmative Action, seeing it as a form of reverse discrimination.

See also

• Racism
• State racism
• Positive discrimination (a.k.a. affirmative action)
• Political correctness

References