Structural racism: what it is and how it works, by Vini Lander, June 30, 2021, at "The Conversation".
From the moment it was published, the UK’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities’
report was met with a media storm driven by both its supporters and detractors. Months later, amid continued division over the report’s position that racism isn’t pronounced in the UK, there’s still some confusion about what exactly some of the report’s buzzwords mean.
Structural and institutional racism
Defined initially by political activists Stokely Carmichael and Charles Vernon Hamilton in 1967, the concept of institutional racism came into the public sphere in 1999 through the
Macpherson Inquiry into the racist murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Institutional racism is defined as:
processes, attitudes and behaviour(s) which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.
As Sir William Macpherson, head of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, wrote at the time, it “persists because of the failure … to recognise and address its existence and causes by policy, example and leadership”.
Institutional and structural racism work hand in glove. Institutional racism relates to, for example, the institutions of education, criminal justice and health. Examples of institutional racism can include: actions (or inaction) within organisations such as the Home Office and the
Windrush Scandal; a school’s
hair policy; institutional processes such as stop and search, which discriminate against certain groups.
How does structural racism work?
Structural racism exists in the social, economic, educational, and political systems in society. Many of the issues that come with it have been escalated by the pandemic, including the disproportionate deaths of
people of colour from COVID-19.
These challenges have worsened because of existing structural racial inequalities which mean that Black and Pakistani communities are more likely to work in
unskilled jobs. As a result, many have had to work through the pandemic as key workers, increasing their exposure and susceptibility to catching or dying from the virus.
Structural and institutional racism account for under-representation in many fields. These barriers are responsible for everything from the 4.9%
ethnic pay gap between white medical consultants and medical consultants of colour, a lack of teachers of colour
in schools, the
1% of Black professors in universities and the absence of
medical training about skin conditions and how they present on black and brown skin. The examples are endless.
It would be easy to blame the people affected, but that would ignore how structural racism works. Black people, for example, can work exceptionally hard but still encounter significant barriers that can be directly traced to issues of structural racism.
It’s also tempting to believe that the success of a small selection of people of colour means that the same opportunities are available to all. The suggestion being that these gains are evidence of a meritocracy (the idea that people can gain power or success through hard work alone). But this ignores the invisible hurdles that on average make the likelihood of achievement for various communities of colour much slimmer than for white people.
Critical Race Theory (a concept devised by US legal scholars which explains that racism is so endemic in society that it can feel non-existent to those who aren’t targets of it) also
debunks the idea that we live in a meritocracy. It describes meritocracy as a liberal construct designed to conceal the barriers which impede success for people of colour.
If structural and institutional racism can’t be explained away by the idea that people of colour simply don’t work hard enough, or are “overly pessimistic” about race, it’s apparent that society needs alternative solutions. One of which is accepting not only that racism exists, but that it’s much more far-reaching than it seems to white people. We can’t eradicate these forms of racism without courage, commitment and concerted efforts from those in positions of power, which in the UK especially includes action from the white majority.
Key Words -
Discrimination;
Racism;
Institutional racism;
Stephen Lawrence;
Structural racism Vini Lander Professor of Race and Education and Director of the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality in the Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett Universit
Adaptado e disponível em: https://theconversation.com/structural-racism-what-it-is-and-how-it-works-158822
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Text for class - October, 27/29, 2021
Versão adaptada: Para ler o original, completo, acesse o título acima, ou :https://theconversation.com/structural-racism-what-it-is-and-how-it-works-158822
