Humans have the tendency to label and name things in order to explain them without actually providing any concrete evidence. We use terms and definitions to create categories and divides. Demographic terms do the same, and I am of the opinion that most racial conflicts are the product of how different peoples’ minds are nurtured and their biases created, rather than some inherent bias in the current systems of America.
Walter E. Williams, an African-American Economics professor at George Mason University told the CQ Reader that, “Many times, people use the term when they can’t find a racist, a lot of times they can’t show you a live breathing individual or company, so now they call it institutionalized racism.” People who tend to blame situations on “institutionalized racism” do so because they feel a lurking injustice but cannot explain it with hard evidence that the ones involved are acting out of malice for a race. The thing is, if one actually takes a look at the systems they’ll find that there are an arguably exorbitant amount of opportunities exclusively for black American; opportunities to work to help a marginalized race be as loud and included as white Americans. Furthermore, the CQ Reader pointed out that there are a record number of black Americans in top positions throughout law, law enforcement, and other governmental related positions. There are no laws that state, “if the defendant is white do X and if the defendant is black do Y”.
What makes the system and this country “institutionally racist” is the mind-frames the different members of society are raised to have. White youths are taught to be suspicious of black youths in many situations and then even an educated and seemingly non-racist individual in his/her adulthood looks at black Americans with an initial apprehension and distrust, which may affect all of his/her actions. Black youth in low-income neighborhoods are taught by their parents to fear and hate the police, usually as an attempted scare tactic to make them behave, and that turns into a distrust of the authorities that there to help. When many schools attempt to educate students on racial divides, they tend to push the implicit message that the African-American community should be pitied and treated and guided like a race of children. This leads to individuals looking down on an entire race. So even when the streets scream with the rage-filled cries of injustice, outsiders look in and say, “Yes this is sad, but why do they act so immature? You never see a white riot.”
This idea that an entire race needs special treatment to justify past wronging to them is racist. The idea that we need programs to help the broken black neighborhoods because of pity is racist. We, as a country, need to take the minority neighborhoods, and bring them up to the level of the rest of society because they are humans; not because they are black. No dilapidated schools and roads that in disrepair and getting worse every day. We need to eliminate the mindset that we are different because our skin is different. Yes, extra work needs to be done to even out the playing field, but that doesn’t help until we eliminate that inherent bias in people’s minds. We need to stop teaching our children that there are divides between us all, and start teaching them that everyone around them is human and that everyone should be treated with the same respect. We eliminate the perceived institutional racism only when we eliminate the mental racism nurtured in many. We don’t need to acknowledge the divide, we need to close the divide.
