Racism in the United States: Encyclopedia II - Racism in the United States - Institutional Racism

Racism in the United States - Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is the theory that aspects of the structure, pervasive attitudes, and established institutions of society disadvantage racial minorities, although not by an overtly discriminatory mechanism. There are several factors that play into institutional racism, including but not limited to: accumulated wealth/benefits from racial groups that have benefited from past discrimination, educational and occupational disadvantages faced by non-native English speakers in the United States, ingrained stereotypical images that still remain in the society (e.g. Black men are likely to be criminals).

The established institutions of society are taking some steps to combat the various claimed structural disadvantages in modern American society, particularly in the case of non-native English speakers or those raised in homes that spoke broken or pidgin English. Several states are attempting to reduce these educational disadvantages by developing a more culturally aware curriculum. For example, the 2005 California 6th grade statewide examination contained the question Patio comes from the Spanish word meaning what?. Including questions such as these provide opportunities for non-native speakers of English to have greater educational access.

Minorities have also been the subject of racism in the mass media through advertising campaigns utilizing references to stereotypes, such as Coon Chicken Inn, and the Taco Bell chihuahua.

Racism in the United States - Immigration

Access to United States citizenship has repeatedly been restricted by race, beginning with the 1790 Naturalization Act which refused naturalization to "non-whites." Other efforts include the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the 1924 National Origins Act. While officially prohibited, U.S. officials continue to differentially apply laws on illegal immigration depending on national origin (essentially declining to enforce immigration laws against European who overstay their visas) and racial appearance (differentially awarding visas to foreign nationals based on race).

Racism in the United States - Wealth Creation

Some of the institutions of wealth creation amongst American citizens were open exclusively to whites, notably land distributed under the Homestead Act and other settlement efforts in the West. Similar differentials applied to the Social Security Act (which excluded agricultural workers, a sector that then included most black workers), rewards to military officers, and the educational benefits offered returning soldiers after World War II.

Racism in the United States - Health care inequality

They are major racial differences in access to health care and in the quality of health care provided. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that: "over 886,000 deaths could have been prevented from 1991 to 2000 if African Americans had received the same care as whites." The key differences they cited were lack of insurance, inadequate insurance, poor service, and reluctance to seek care. A history of government-sponsored experimentation, such as the notorious Tuskegee experiments has left of legacy of African-American distrust of the medical system.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Institutional Racism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki