Institutional Racism In School

Words: 1947
Pages: 8

I was unaware that racism was still a problem until I moved from a prominently Latino town to a prominently white city. I moved to go to college and I believed college would be full of open minded individuals but that was not the case. My freshmen year at University of California, San Diego, a white fraternity had a party that was themed “Black People” meaning that members at the party must dress in stereotypical black outfits and act as a stereotypical black person would act. The party was not taken lightly and was seen all over the news and made all the students at UCSD be perceived as racist. Not only was this a cruel joke to African Americans, but it impacted all the minorities on campus. It made all the non-white students feel uncomfortable since half of the population on campus was white. Despite the decades since the civil rights movement occurred, racism continues to be a major problem in America. We see racism in media or in our everyday life. Organized hate groups, …show more content…
Institutional racism is defined in the NASW as “the manifestation of racism in social systems and institutions. It is the social, economic, educational, and political forces or policies that operate to foster discriminatory outcomes. It is the combination of polices, practices, or procedures embedded in bureaucratic structure that systematically lead to unequal outcomes for groups of people”(2007). In other words, policy and practices intentionally or unintentionally favor one group or put a racial group at a disadvantage. An example of what this might look like is when a male person of color walks toward a white person, and the white person holds their purse or bag closer to them in fear that they will be robbed. The white person might not have anything against that person, but the mere fact that they are of color will trigger something in the white person that tells them he means