SYSTEMIC RACISM (a.k.a. Structural Racism)
March 10, 2009
Prepared by Marian (Meck) Groot

Most people in the United States don’t understand that racism is held in place systemically. In a country that stresses individualized experience, we are not often shown how a racist system influences what we see, how we see it, what we value, how we behave, what we know.

Racism is like the matrix in the movie by the same name. In The Matrix, machines are in charge. But in order to survive, the machines need energy. The energy they harvest is the life force of human beings. Human beings are literally farmed. Each person “lives” in a pod that keeps them safe and unaware and immobile. Their brains are plugged into a system that makes them imagine that they are having a full human life. They are living in a fantasy world as though they were in a movie but didn’t know. Occasionally the truth of their existence comes through like a dream. But most of them are living fictitious non-lives while their life energy is being drained and used to keep machines functioning.

Those who vaguely sense the truth of their lives may begin to explore what is really going on. They struggle to wake up. They struggle to become aware. And some of them do. The movie is essentially a battle between the humans who wake up and want a real life and the machines that want to keep harvesting them.

Early in his process of awakening consciousness, the main character Neo is offered two pills: a red one which will let him know the truth and a blue one which will allow him to go back to his pod and to whatever “reality” he was being fed there. He chooses the red pill: he wants to know the truth. But this choice has consequences – which is what the rest of the movie and two sequels is about: the consequences of awareness.

Of course, with racism, all humans are not equal. Because of different levels of access to power and privilege, people in all groups do not share common experiences. Not to mention, that if we stick with the metaphor, we have to ask, “Who are the machines? And are the machines aware?” The metaphor may or may not completely work….but I think you get my point: seeing racism as a system is like waking up in the matrix.

Racism is so much bigger than us. It’s not just a matter of individuals choosing a new way or another path. We are all caught in this. Transforming it – if that is possible – begins in recognizing that it as a system and learning to understand how that system operates.

This is very different from the general understanding of racism. Generally, people in the US think of racism as the expression of negative thoughts or feelings that individuals of one group offer individuals in another group. Of course, that too is part of the system, but it is only a small part. If we focus only on that small part, we miss most of what is really going on. We fail to see how a whole system operates to ensure that one “race” is comfortable, safe, protected, self-determined, free to make choices, valued and happy (more or less) while other “races” are marginalized, exploited and/or obliterated.

For whatever reason, this week I received a deluge of emails offering written resources that help us to understand systemic racism. Most of them are lengthy – since it isn’t easy to capture the complexity of systemic racism in a few pages. It’s too much material to ask you to read between now and next week. So…I am offering you choices. Pick at least one. Pick more if you want to. The options abound.

One of the things we will be exploring on Saturday at the Leading From Spirit workshop is systemic racism. Hopefully, the presentations, activities and exercises that I will be offering you on Saturday will help to break down this down so it isn’t completely overwhelming. I am so glad to know that all of you in the Study Circle have also signed up to come on Saturday. That will help us as a group learn language and concepts that can help us “see” how the system works to keep racism in place.

Have a great week. Stay focused.
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OPTIONS FOR THIS SESSION:

Journaling:

* What do you know about systemic racism? [Before and/or after you have read one or more essays listed below.]
* How do you see systemic racism? Draw a picture of it. Or describe a metaphor for it.
* How does it impact on you?

Read one (1) or more of any of the following suggested readings:

* On the Crossroads Antiracism and Organizing website “HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL RACISM: A Working Paper” by Robette Ann Dias.
* “Understanding White Privilege” by Frances Kendall
* “Structural Racism and Rebuilding New Orleans” by Maya Wiley
* “Toward a Structural Racism Framework” by Andrew Grant-Thomas & john a. powell
* “Internalized Racism: a definition” by Donna Bivens. Offers a look at the systemic impact of racism on people of color.
* “A Structural Racism Lens on Subprime Foreclosures and Vacant Properties” by Rick Cohen

Other

* Draw a diagram of how you see (or think you see) systemic racism operating within or impacting an organization that you know well. Maybe the school you went to, your church, your workplace.
* Start a file with stories from newspapers, magazines, the web, your life that illustrate systemic racism operating.