What is Institutional Racism?

I’ll confess that until quite recently I had no idea that some people thought that America was afflicted with it.

Of course, racism – seemingly ingrained prejudice – has a long history in our nation (and everywhere else).  But slavery ended as the result of the Civil War.  Jim Crow laws were repealed a half century ago and broad civil rights legislation was approved about the same time.  Simply put, de jure discrimination as government policy was long ago abolished. 

But according to many on the Left, we remain a racist land with our institutions irredeemably infected.  But how can that be?  Black Americans are “everywhere” in institutions of prominence, such as government (all branches), academia and business.  Didn’t white Americans elect a black president?

But no matter.

Google the term and this is what you’ll find:  “Institutional racism (also known as systematic racism) is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions.  It is reflected in disparities regarding wealth, income, criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power and education among other factors”. 

 

Those who use this sort of language (Black Lives Matter, etc.) usually label themselves as Social Justice Warriors.  They consider that differences in achievement among racial groups are proof of the existence of the injustices cited.

Thus, by that logic, the fact that whites, as a group, have higher home ownership rates than blacks can be attributed only to discrimination.  Likewise, academic attainment of Americans of Jewish ethnicity over non-Jewish whites indicates pro-semitism, right?  And, let’s not forget that the social justice perspective compels one to find that the presence of black athletes in the NFL and NBA (all out of proportion to their percentage in the U.S. population.) means other racial groups are being discriminated against.

This analysis is, of course, founded on reducto ad absurdum…

There are other explanations to explain the discrepancies in outcomes such as education, commitment, talent and so forth and are far more likely to have merit.

Justice in America should include equality of opportunity.  The same was never promised for outcomes.