Simply put, Racism is Prejudice + Power, yet it is a complex problem with multiple facets and multiple definitions.
Further defining Racism
More about the elements of racism and systems of oppression: What is Racism?, Talking About Race, Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity
For more on how racism operates on different levels: Understanding Racism,
For more on how racism shows up across life and culture: Systemic Racism,
More on Institutional Racism: Institutional Racism, Explaining Systemic and Institutional Racism
More on Racism and western culture: The West was Built on a Lie (video)
More on Lateral Violence
“In the wake of the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s, racism has come to be seen as having three dimensions. Prejudice refers to unfounded and usually negative beliefs and attitudes about racially defined groups and individuals: stereotypes, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and the like. Discrimination directs attention toward preferential or detrimental actions taken toward racially defined groups and individuals because of their race. Finally institutional (or structural) racism refers to the endemic character of racial injustice and inequality. As a social structure racism is understood to be a product of the systematic allocation of resources, privileges, and rights differentially by race: it is distributed across the whole range of social institutions both historically and in the present, and it does not require intention or agency to be perpetuated.” (Race and Racism)
Further defining Racism
More about the elements of racism and systems of oppression: What is Racism?, Talking About Race, Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity
For more on how racism operates on different levels: Understanding Racism,
For more on how racism shows up across life and culture: Systemic Racism,
More on Institutional Racism: Institutional Racism, Explaining Systemic and Institutional Racism
More on Racism and western culture: The West was Built on a Lie (video)
More on Lateral Violence
Furthermore, Racism is deeply ingrained into North American culture.
“Racism is the pervasive, deep-rooted, and longstanding exploitation, control and violence directed at People of Color, Native Americans, and Immigrants of Color that produce the benefits and entitlements that accrue to white people, particularly to a white male dominated ruling class.
Often white people think of racism as prejudice, ignorance, or negative stereotypes about People of Color. This definition often leads to the assumption that the solution to racism is to challenge misinformation about People of Color or other marginalized groups or to convince white people to be more tolerant or accepting.
In fact, prejudice, ignorance, and stereotypes are the result of racism, not the cause. Every one of us in this society, growing up with the lies, misinformation, and stereotypes found in our media, textbooks, and cultural images and messages, carries deep-seated and harmful attitudes towards many other groups.” Racism 101
Further defining Racism
More about the elements of racism and systems of oppression: What is Racism?, Talking About Race, Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity
For more on how racism operates on different levels: Understanding Racism,
For more on how racism shows up across life and culture: Systemic Racism,
More on Institutional Racism: Institutional Racism, Explaining Systemic and Institutional Racism
More on Racism and western culture: The West was Built on a Lie (video)
More on Lateral Violence
And one more thing;
Non-white folks can be agents of racism as well by perpetuating the notion of white superiority and using it to discriminate against other people of color. For example, a black manager at a company may insist that a black employee's natural hair looks "unprofessional," or an Asian professor may knock points off the presentation grade of a Latinx student who speaks with an accent. This is called lateral aggression or lateral violence.
Further defining Racism
More about the elements of racism and systems of oppression: What is Racism?, Talking About Race, Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity
For more on how racism operates on different levels: Understanding Racism,
For more on how racism shows up across life and culture: Systemic Racism,
More on Institutional Racism: Institutional Racism, Explaining Systemic and Institutional Racism
More on Racism and western culture: The West was Built on a Lie (video)
More on Lateral Violence
Anti-Racism is strategies, theories, actions, and practices that challenge and counter racism, inequalities, prejudices, and discrimination based on race.
Racial Microaggressions are commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults in relation to race. They are structurally based and invoke oppressive systems of racial hierarchy. Racial Microinvalidations, Microinsults, Microassaults are specific types of microaggressions.
Note: The prefix “micro” is used because these are invocations of racial hierarchy at the individual level (person to person), where as the "macro" level refers to aggressions committed by structures as a whole (e.g. an organizational policy). "Micro" in no way minimalizes or otherwise evaluates the impact or seriousness of the aggressions.
The Macro Effect of Microaggressions: Amanda Florence Goodenough Workshop Recording, March 15, 2021
Further Reading:
Tokenism is presence without meaningful participation. For example, a superficial invitation for participation without ongoing dialogue and support, handpicked representatives who are expected to speak for the whole (socially oppressed) group (e.g. ‘tell us how women experience this issue’). Tokenism is often used as a band-aid solution to help the group improve its image (e.g. ‘we’re not racist, look there’s a person of colour on the panel.’). (from Sustainable Campuses)
Similarly, this attitude of "one is enough/they're all the same" contributes to the mindset that one person of color or one Native person can stand in for all people of color and Native people respectively. Not only is it problematic and illogical to assume that one individual's perspective and experiences can be generalized to millions of other people, it also promotes to the idea that a friendship, relationship, or just exposure to one or a few people of color or Native people negates racist thoughts, ideas, or behavior toward others (i.e. "I'm not a racist, my boyfriend is black" or "My costume isn't racist--my best friend is First Nation and she thinks it's hilarious").
Further Reading:
Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity. This not only amounts to a dismissal of the lived experiences of people of color, but also suggests that racism does not exist so long as one ignores it.
I don't see color. I just see people.
We're all just people.
I don't care if you're black, white, green, or purple-polka-dotted!
#AllLivesMatter
At face value, colorblindness seems like a good thing — actually living up to Dr. King's ideal of judging people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. However, colorblindness alone is not sufficient to combat racism or heal racial wounds on a national or personal level. It is only a half-measure that, in the end, operates as a form of racism. (from PsychologyToday.com)
Mic
Mic correspondent Darnell L. Moore lays down the definitive takedown of #AllLivesMatter everyone needs to hear.
Further reading:
This page is used and has been adapted with the permission of Simmons University Library. For information about reusing the guide, please contact library@simmons.edu.
Note: When copying this guide, please retain this box.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism by
"In more than 1,800 pages of alphabetical entries, each ranging from 500 to 1,2000 words, The Encyclopedia Of Race And Racism, 2nd Edition provides critical information and context on the underlying social, economic, geographical, and political conditions that, gave rise and continue to foster racism. Religion, political economy, social activism, health, concepts, and constructs are explored. Given the increasingly diverse population of the US and the rapid effects of globalization, as well as mass and social media, the issue of race in world affairs, history, and culture is of preeminent importance, and this work is designed to bring vetted and accessible facts and analysis to experts and students as well as lay readers." --Goodreads
Whitewashing Race by
White Americans, abetted by neo-conservative writers of all hues, generally believe that racial discrimination is a thing of the past and that any racial inequalities that undeniably persist—in wages, family income, access to housing or health care—can be attributed to African Americans' cultural and individual failures. If the experience of most black Americans says otherwise, an explanation has been sorely lacking—or obscured by the passions the issue provokes. [T]his book brings together a team of highly respected sociologists, political scientists, economists, criminologists, and legal scholars to scrutinize the logic and evidence behind the widely held belief in a color-blind society—and to provide an alternative explanation for continued racial inequality in the United States. --Publisher
Stamped from the Beginning by Educational Resources
Current Issues
