Institutionalized (verb) means “to be established as an official part of an organization.”

So in regards to institutionalized racism, in short it means racism that is deeply embedded in the very core of how the world runs. Racism is so commonplace and almost necessary for the world, that it has become apart of the largest institutions we have. We see this especially in the American justice system, government, education system and many more that people do not even realize.

It is important to note where institutionalized racism was birthed and also that, with the different institutions comes different origins. The most commonly talked about institution where racism lives is the American “justice” system. To figure out how racism sprouted its wings within this system is not very hard. Black people were not even seen as full people in the constitution, and were treated as such by law enforcement and the courts. Historically, black people were not given fair trials, were beaten by cops publicly, given unfair sentencing, basically being treated like three-fifths of a person -- like the constitution stated. The constitution is the backbone of our country, so America is like a child born with scoliosis. Even if it seems to be fine on the outside, then deep down the structure will always be rigid. Now we see these types of behavior paralleling into today’s justice system. Cops are killing black people in plain daylight with the system covering it up, and black people are disproportionately charged and sentenced for most crimes. Sounds a lot like the system from the '60s we are so often critical of, does it not?

The justice system is definitely not the most harmful of a series of various racist institutions. In my opinion, and many scholars have very different ranging ideas regarding this, the economic institution in America is the most dangerous to the black people of this nation. Its roots are probably the most frightening as well. In the early 1900’s, there was something known as “Black Wall Street.” It was where black business was booming and at its peak, from restaurants to grocery stores or just privately owned businesses. It brought in millions of dollars in revenue and united the black community by prosperity. Of course black people having a good thing was frowned upon during this time, and it was not long until racist were angry at the black success. Eventually, what was known as “Little Africa” got burned down along with many of the businesses from Black Wall Street; Black Wall Street was defeated. Not only that, but at the same time, we have black people being lynched for owning businesses. And 90 percent of lynchings being business owners is not a coincidence, it is white supremacy at its finest, ensuring the forever oppression of black people.

So when you take into account that black people have a history of being targeted, killed and put in danger for essentially trying to be successful, it is not surprising the extent of economic disadvantage a lot of black people have. It goes deeper than us just “being lazy” like many people try to write it off as. This economic disadvantage causes poverty, poverty causes measures such as selling drugs or theft to be taken. This leads to run-ins with law enforcement, and like we discussed before, the criminal justice system is corrupt. So at the head of it all is our economic oppression that we forcefully have from years of abuse. Money is power in a country that thrives off of capitalism and black people have to work 10-times harder to obtain that power because of our past treatment.

Institutionalized racism affects all people of color in different ways, this is just a small spectrum of what can be discussed when speaking on this issue. But one thing is for certain, for black people and all people of color to ever really be equal, we must work to break down these systems of oppression. It does not happen overnight because it was not created overnight, but learning and being educated is the first step to making real, necessary change in our country.