Off My Chest

Institution: a custom, practice, or law that is accepted and used by many people.

Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Institutional Racism: Institutional racism is a pattern of social institutions — such as governmental organizations, schools, banks, and courts of law — giving negative treatment to a group of people based on their race. Institutional racism leads to inequality; sociologists use the concept to explain why some people face unequal treatment or occupy unequal statuses. One historic example of institutional racism is the barring of African-American students from attending certain public schools, which limited the students' educational opportunities and helped prevent them from achieving a status equal to that of others. Institutional racism need not involve intentional racial discrimination. For example, individual judges might intend to impose similar sentences for similar crimes; yet if Caucasian people tend to receive lighter punishments, plausibly institutional racism occurs.

Several weeks ago, an old high school friend and I had an engaged discussion regarding police brutality, racism, judgement and perspective in the U.S. It was in lieu of the killing of Terence Crutcher which led to me mentioning how institutionalized racism is very much responsible for the actions taken by the officer. My classmate disagreed that institutionalized racism existed and that it still exists and persists in modern U.S. society. He challenged me to give examples of institutionalized racism. Below, I will do precisely that.

1.       United States Constitution, Article I. Section 2. (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html)

2.       United States Constitution, Article XIII. Section 1. (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html) – This would have been unnecessary if an institution called slavery did not exist.

3.       United States Constitution, Amendment XV. Section 1, (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html) – Again, if slavery did not exist, there would not be a need for this.

4.       United States Constitution, Amendment XXIV., Section 1 (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html)

5.       Supreme Court of the United States, Brown vs. The Board of Education (https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=87&page=transcript)