The systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another. Racism is complex, and occurs on four intersecting levels:
Internalized Racism
The conscious and unconscious development of ideas, beliefs, actions, and behaviors that demonstrate one’s acceptance of the dominant society’s racist tropes and stereotypes about their own race. Internalized racism is the simultaneous hating of oneself and/or one’s own race and valuing of the dominant race.
Interpersonal or Individual Racism
“Racism that occurs between individuals. It is when someone consciously or unconsciously employs or acts upon on racist thoughts, in ways that perpetuate stereotypes and harms people of color.”
Institutional Racism
“Policies and practices within and across institutions that, intentionally or not, produce outcomes that chronically favor one racial group and/or put a racial group at a disadvantage…The institutional policies may never mention any racial group, but their effect is to create advantages for Whites and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as people of color.”
Structural Racism
“A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity. It identifies dimensions of our history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with “whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt over time. Structural racism is not something that a few people or institutions choose to practice. Instead, it has been a feature of the social, economic and political systems in which we all exist.”
Systemic Racism
Used interchangeably with Institutional or Structural Racism.
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1
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.) Racism. In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism.
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See also:
Internalized Racism;Interpersonal or Individual Racism;Institutional Racism;Structural Racism;Systemic Racism