What is Institutional or Structural Racism?
Structural racism is not bigotry, prejudice or isolated racist acts. Though the latter are real and should be addressed, the racism present in our food and other systems is a process that is built into the nation’s past and present, its social norms, language and institutional policies, its economic system and culture and its militarism against people of color both in the US and abroad. Multiple institutions (education, health care, transportation, housing, government and many others) make up our structural arrangements. These structures are NOT race, gender, class neutral and as they interact their impact is cumulative. They have created multi-generational exclusions from opportunities that continue to manifest today. Institutional racism is The ways in which the structures, systems, policies,and procedures of institutions in the U.S. are founded upon and then promote, reproduce, and perpetuate advantages for white people and the oppression of people of color. The ways in which instit
