Institutional Racism

In The Color of Fear, Victor said, "Most of the lethal, deadly, toxic racism that people of color experience...comes from moral, fair-minded people who are lovers of justice--mostly decent and very nice folks." Many racist ideas and practices are more obvious than others. Several authors of our readings have discussed the "unintentional" or "unconscious" forms of racism. It is this type of "invisible" racism that Victor is talking about and can often be more difficult to address and change than overt, blatant racism. These forms of racism are more insidious and work behind the scenes and enable racism to exist even in the absence of deliberate racist attitudes and actions.
Racism is a system of oppression based on race that creates advantages and disadvantages among groups of people. Racism includes the beliefs, practices, laws, customs, and social arrangements that systematically burden, disadvantage, devalue or render inferior members of one racial group in relation to another in a society.…