14/08/2022
Chiagozie Benedicta Nwoha
Today I want to talk to you about institutional racism.
Today I want to talk to you about institutional racism.
Racism is reproduced through societal structures and shows itself through the exclusion of certain individuals from society. It takes shape in systemic oppression, as well as in the unfair distribution of societal resources like wealth. Institutional discrimination on the other hand, shows itself in the health, jurisdictional, or educational system, as well as in numerous societal institutions.
Institutional racism explored
Institutional racism is a well spread phenomenon. It poses as a part of structural racism and is knowable through its “normality” in society. It seems to pertain and have untouchable proof in society, which follows racist wisdom, which allows certain misconceptions to grow in society. Institutional Racism is when an organization fails to judge people fairly, due to their religion, culture, skin colour or ethnic background. It manifests in societal processes, behaviours and decisions, which through racist stereotypes, subconscious presumptions, and blatant ignorance, lead to tough discrimination.
A study on the European Website of Integration shows that institutional racism is not an exception, but is rooted in society, as is institutionally reproduced. As a result, in manifests in various societal interactions. It can have grievous results for some societal groups, in particular for people with dark skin or a migrant background. It leads to stereotypes and consequently, to discrimination in various parts of life. In combination with racial profiling, people tend to get investigated due to racial features and, as a result, get excluded from that society, based on the findings of the research.
Hidden examples of institutional racism
Institutional racism is harder to discover than other obvious forms of racism, as it follows a hidden pattern embedded in the structure of the society and can manifest in the most distinctive ways. Therefore it must be looked at more carefully. For example, a mental institution, could subconsciously see the skin of an individual as increased proof of a problem and decide based on such subconscious reasons to keep a dark person locked away. Whats more, is that certain black and minority groups were offered less psychotherapy and instead, were more likely offered drugs as certain form of therapy.
A British survey finds that less than average white people were admitted to the mental hospital, while black African or black Caribbean people were three times more higher to be admitted to mental hospitals. “Not only were people in these three groups more likely to be admitted to hospital, but those in hospital were 19-39% more likely to be admitted involuntarily. Once in hospital, people who defined themselves as black Caribbean had the longest stay.” (McKenzie, et.al. 2007).
21% of the patients in the ward were reportedly black and part of minority ethnic groups while they only represent 7% of the inspected population. Such differences in treatment in accordance to racial groupings, reflect the pattern of institutional racism in mental institutions.
Compared to white people, a black person can be locked up for fewer reasons as well as for longer time. We need to ask ourselves which power dynamic empowers white people or makes it attractive to them to lock up black people even for lesser charges and fewer pieces of evidence than their white counterparts. This power-dynamic can also be attributed to other scenarios such as being locked up in a mental institution as a black person, as the case of my friend shows. A school principal could decide not to recommend a pupil of black heritage or with a migrant background to go to university due to the racial profiling and institutional racism.
How do we counteract and prevent institutional racism?
Now we have to think about what we as a society could do against institutional racism.
In the justice system of many countries, it is important to perceive dark skinned people just as human as other people. Most importantly, they shouldn’t be seen as enemies to the system in any way.
There is a need for a certain degree of enlightenment among society, for institutional racism. Once people educate themselves on this topic, structural and institutional racism can be understood by people in society and be counterworked on. Therefore, smaller discriminatory processes within organizations and institutions have to be investigated. This, if done properly, can decrease the occurance of institutional racism within societal structures.
Literature
McKenzie K, Bhui K. Institutional racism in mental health care. BMJ. 2007 Mar 31;334(7595):649-50. doi: 10.1136/bmj.39163.395972.80. PMID: 17395908; PMCID: PMC1839175. Abgerufen am 12.08.2022 unter: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1839175/
https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/2015-11-institutioneller-rassismus-sachsen.pdf
