In a fall 2021 survey, most Americans said racism by individuals was a bigger problem for Black people than racism in the nation's laws. Black Americans were more likely to say the laws were the larger problem (Pew Research). I found that fascinating but unsurprising, since we tend to see racism go viral when it happens between two people, like the "Karen" videos or one story of a business turning someone away. But the harm that lasts for generations usually happens through policy, and that's much harder to film.
Race Forward describes four levels of racism that help explain this. Internalized racism happens within us, and interpersonal racism happens between us. Institutional racism happens inside a school, company or agency, like a dress code that bans hairstyles common to Black students. Structural racism is the combined effect of all of these across society (Race Forward). Systemic racism is the term most people use for those last two levels together.
US history shows how it was built. In the 1930s, federal housing agencies rated Black neighborhoods as hazardous and cut them off from mortgages, which kept Black families from buying homes and building the wealth that comes with them. After World War II, the GI Bill was run in ways that largely shut out Black veterans. And in 1968, the Kerner Commission named the pattern directly when it wrote that white institutions created and maintained the ghetto.
The results are measurable today. In 2022, the median white family held about $285,000 in wealth, compared with $44,900 for the median Black family (Federal Reserve). During the first months of the pandemic, a Yale study found Black Americans were 3.5 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than white Americans (NPR). As Kerri Kelly of CTZNWell put it, "This virus doesn't discriminate, but systems do."
So ending systemic racism means changing policies and institutions, along with our own biases. All of it can feel overwhelming. But once we can name how racism persists, we can find better ways to push against each part.
Common questions
What's the difference between systemic racism and individual racism?
Individual racism is one person's beliefs or actions, like a slur or a biased hiring choice. Systemic racism lives in rules and institutions, so it keeps producing unequal results even when no one in the room means harm. Both matter, and they feed each other.
Is systemic racism the same as structural or institutional racism?
They're closely related. Institutional racism happens inside one school, company or agency, and structural racism is the combined effect across all of society. Most people use systemic racism to describe both together.
What are some examples of systemic racism?
Redlining, which cut Black neighborhoods off from home loans, is one of the clearest. Others include school funding tied to local property taxes and drug sentencing laws that punished crack cocaine far more harshly than powder cocaine.