What You Need to Know about Structural Racism

Racism does not require "malicious intent." If this is how you're defining racism, it's time to do your personal work to better understand structural racism and your role in it.

There are 4 levels of racism:

-Internalized or Personal Racism

-Interpersonal Racism

-Institutional Racism

-Structural Racism

📍 The most common understanding of racism is that it’s a form of prejudice and intentional bias in our personal interactions.
📍 But racism resides in our beliefs as unconscious bias; this is sometimes called internalized racism.
📍 Racism also resides in institutions (workplaces, schools, etc) where it is manifested as biased, unfair, and discriminatory practices that cause disparities and unjust outcomes for people of color. This is called institutional racism. For example, most organizations in the US have a white supremacy culture.

📍Finally, racial inequity is created and sustained by a system of public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms that interact and reinforce each other. This is what scholars and activists mean by “structural racism.”

Structural racism doesn’t require the actions or intent of individuals (malicious or otherwise). It refers to the totality of ways society fosters raced-based inequities. Whereas institutional racism refers to racism that’s particular to one institution, structural racism describes the way multiple systems, institutions, and norms interact to foster racial discrimination in practices, policies, and beliefs.

🔥 When we reduce racism to overt bigotry and malicious forms of hate and discrimination, we are simply defining it in a way that makes it easier for us to disavow.

[Image description: Visual representing the 4 levels of racism: personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural. “Personal” is at the center and the other levels are depicted as concentric circles.]