Actively Dismantling Systemic Racism

This post addresses the recent events surrounding systemic racism by understanding the significant key words that are connected to the issue, initiating thoughts regarding new and sustainable directions to create a racially just social system, and providing online resources to stay educated and contribute to the cause. This post is not intended for any form of professional advancement nor do I own any of the graphics, but instead a conversation starter that offers a new educational perspective while identifying one of the root problems in America. This past year, I have been grateful to take a Grand Challenge Learning class, Racism in Public Spaces, at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and accredit much of what I have learned and gained to Professor Ken Salo, who teaches within urban and regional planning as well as with the Center for African Studies at The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). As we work through and respond to the events of racial oppression, such as the events surrounding George Floyd, there is much to learn and appreciate from those who have come before us in terms of starting an opposition movement and working to promote equity and social justice, like the Civil Rights Movement. I have engaged in this content as a learner and want to reflect on what I have observed in the news recently. In general, as a society, none of us are immune to the problem as we may have engaged in covert racism, through racial words, biased thoughts, and general stereotypes blankly in the past without understanding the effects. In order to grow our mindset, we have to take ownership for our actions, including myself, and for this reason, I want to share resources that helped shape my perspective. I am still learning and my ideas are still in the making, but no matter what career I choose, I want this mindset of supporting others to be included in my life and want to share this content for the purpose of engaging in dialogue beyond social media or when the problem is no longer widely discussed.

Objective:

We have only lived in a world with racism and have not experienced anything different; therefore, young people need to be at the forefront of the anti-racism movement because we have the power to dictate our future, enact the change we want to see, leave the world a bit better than what it was before, and ensure future generations live in a more objective and accepting world. The recent events surrounding police brutality and racial inferiorities have made it even more evident that staying neutral, remaining silent, or not adapting corresponds with complying with the oppressive forces. Nonetheless, speaking up and voicing your opinion should not deserve recognition or constitute a reward, but instead be considered the standard and the correct thing to. Given this, individuals, institutions, and companies need to enact change and promote action, but also focus their energy on developing sustainable ideas that alter the current racialized social structure we live in and prevent the continuity of institutional/strucutual/systemic racism. Many of the previous efforts to create equality and justice have only led to temporarily disguising the larger problem at hand: the ingrained social structure containing institutional racism, despite the valuable intention or execution of the solution. In the proposed direction section towards the bottom of this post, I have featured an academic paper I wrote for my class highlighting what individuals, institutions, and companies can do today at home, school, and work in order to establish a racially just social structure. To briefly preview my ideas, at home it is vital to uncover and accept our unconscious biases before choosing how to act, rather than repressing implicit thoughts. At school, updated techniques, such as acceptance and commitment therapy, need to implemented in classroom instruction concerning diversity and inclusion, rather than repeating traditional textbook instruction or discussion that only addresses the surface. Lastly, at work, employees must focus on becoming an accomplice, rather than just an ally, in order to reduce biases and discrimination in work environments. The purpose of these proposed ideas is for people to evolve and become aware of their racial thoughts without feeling guilt or defensiveness. No one benefits when hate and discrimination cloud our judgement and actions; therefore, it crucial to humanize people of color and consider them equals given we live and feel the same emotions. Before diving deeper into these roles, it is important to discuss the key words surrounding the issue.

Key Words:

Race: Race is not genetics, race is not an ancient idea, and race most definitely does not say anything about one’s traits. Instead, race is a social construction, a biological fallacy, a cultural reproduction, an ideology that justifies a social practice, and an illusion (an idea we believe in without material basis). The American social construct is often much different than other countries because we have been socialized to see race and color dating all the way back to the origins of the nation; therefore, racism is not chosen, but a feature that coexists in our social, economic, and political systems (Garner).

• The Enlightenment Period, wake of global capitalism, and European colonization in the 18th century, all of which relied on slaves who were not considered human, are accredited with marking the birth of slavery in America. As the social structure of slavery grew and more native people and African people were enslaved to assist in furthering the economy, so did the distinction between the different races, in turn increasing social dominance for whites and the divide between people of black skin and white skin. The ideology of race in theory is an illusion, a myth, and a reproduced habit, but in reality, the belief of this socially constructed ideology increases the practice of distinguishing races in our American culture, often times involuntarily.

Systemic/Structural/Institutional Racism: Racism is often seen as a psychological bias that can be cured rather than an embedded structural issue that is timeless. Structural Racism is a modern idea that influential entities, such as governments, schools, judiciaries, and private financial companies, display negative attitudes and treatment, often through educational or job limitations, towards people of color, mainly black Americans. In other words, it occurs when a racial phenomenon is considered the normal outcome in a racialized social system (Garner).

(@theconsciouskid, A Guide to White Privilege, Instagram, 19 May 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/CAY3zsrHSzf/?igshid=1ou44oid6oc4f)

Racial Justice: A social structure that hold society to a higher standard, even more than racial equity. Racial justice occurs when a person is offered equal access to tools and opportunities and experiences none of society’s advantages or disadvantages due to the color of their skin (Garner).

• Our current state is far from this reality as a person of color today is more likely to live in poverty, suffer from the criminal justice system, receive lower educational opportunities, experience limited economic activity, and be exposed to environmental issues that contribute to poor health outcomes. A strong visualization of this example is the differences in economic activity, environmental issues, criminal justice system, and educational opportunities among the north side and south side of Chicago.

Whiteness: A socially and politically constructed idea that people who appear white receive privilege and power because they are not subjected to or experience the racism endured by people of color as well as other minorities, including Indigenous people. In other terms, it is separating those who are entitled from those who are vulnerable to oppression simply because they do not have white skin, which eventually leads to an array of economic, social, and political issues, more specifically an unequal distribution of power (Garner).

• Whiteness is also different from being white in that being white is just a socially constructed category of race, while whiteness (also socially constructed) has serious consequences, such as an increased wealth disparity. Using the word white or phrase “white people” continues to reinforce the problematic issue of race and its categories, so it is important to recognize this form of racism and privileges white skinned people encounter as whiteness.

White Privilege: White privilege falls under the idea of whiteness except that it is primarily focused on the unearned, unquestioned, and unconscious realization of benefits and privilege for white skinned people. White privilege is the benefits, entitlements, advantages, and choices granted unconsciously to white skinned individuals because they do not face racism the way underrepresented groups do (Garner).

• These benefits are often seen as invisible to white privileged people because that is the life they consistently experience, but oppressed groups understand this divide because they are consistently disadvantaged and denied these privileges on a daily basis. This lack of understanding among people who experience privilege is one of the many reason’s systemic and institutional racism as well as white supremacist beliefs still persists today without solutions to alleviate such issues. Whiteness, white privilege, and white supremacy are socially constructed ideas that hide the urgent and troubling significance of racism and allow people of privilege to exert power over people of color while maintaining their individual innocence.

Intersectionality: Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality is the overlap between individual characteristics (race, class, and gender) and how they all contribute to the oppression minorities face. Additionally, it is a reframe that makes the intersecting effects of oppression visible in ways that correct singular approaches or viewpoints (Garner).

• The teachings of intersectionality are aimed at helping us recognize differences in perspectives, analyze the spaces we occupy (both inside and outside the area we are raised in), and seek new or other points of view to progress together as a society.

Racialized Nation: It is important to recognize how a certain social system reproduces racial acts and creates a representation of a supposed ideal nation, even though it is contained with heavy racialization among the states and nations. With that said, a nation is a self-defining cultural and social environment and in this construction the people have the ability to align their views where they lie best within a nation’s shared values including language and religion (Garner).

• Our view of race is often dictated by our collective nation, but more specifically the surrounding and native society. In this case, a nation’s members, values, and creation can change rapidly based on certain circumstances.

Individual Racism: An individual’s learned beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors that are reinforced by structural racism and stem from conscious, unconscious, and personal prejudice/bias. It is vital to discuss racism with children to help prevent the continuity of racism because silence reinforces racism by allowing children to develop their individual thoughts based on what they observe, which in this case is a racialized social structure (Garner).

Diversity: A diverse community is committed to valuing individual differences such as race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, class, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, political views, cultural views, mental health status, and language spoken. Diversity is not limited to social differences, as the most important parts of diversity include personality, learning styles, cognitive process, and life experiences (Garner).

(@ohhappydani, Areas to Diversify in Daily Life, Instagram, 12 May 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/CAGhlB5Fyzq/?igshid=13nhgtczme21f)

Proposed Direction: Now that the key terms have been defined and the context is understood, there is no better time to act. This academic paper I wrote for the Racism and Public Spaces class at UIUC still stands and provides further detail on how the ideas briefly discussed above regarding strategies at home, school, and work can be implemented, enacted, and a used as a guide for not only reducing structural racism, but also shaping an equitable and just social structure for generations to come (Patel).

Resources: If you’re overwhelmed and don’t know what you can do to help, these resources are a good place to start.

Document that outlines current petitions and donations to contribute to:

Document that outlines more petitions and donations to contribute to, specifically focused around relevant/upcoming events and prior events of police brutality and white supremacy. 

Document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein in May 2020 that outlines articles and books to read, videos to watch, podcasts to listen to, and other anti-racist resources to actively practice anti-racist behaviors:

Website that provides resources for how to discuss racism with children:

Jezz Chung, a writer, speaker, and equity advisor, shares tips on how to stay active aside from sharing on social media. 

Website that curates timely conversations to elevate formidable leaders and inspire change:

Website that further provides outlooks for ways you can contribute and educate yourself, and voice your thoughts. 

Article by The Cut that provides effective plans of actions for those looking to be further involved or make an impact. 

Works Cited:

Garner, Steve. Racisms: an Introduction. Sage Ltd., 2017.

Patel, Jaylen. Dismantling Structural Racism. 2020.