Defining Structural Racism
The Aspen Institute document on “Operationalizing a Structural Racism Framework: A Guide for Community Level Research and Action” defines structural racism as:
Structural racism refers to the complex ways in which historical oppression, culture, ideology interact through our political economy, public policies and institutional practices to produce social dynamics that reproduce and reinforce a hierarchy of color that privileges whiteness and marginalizes blackness. One of these dynamics is “racial sorting.” This label describes processes operating at the spatial, institutional, cultural, and cognitive levels in our society to maintain white privilege. Another dynamic can be described as “racial progress and retrenchment.” This captures the historical and ongoing reality that various forms of civic resistance to racial inequity bring discrete areas of racial progress. But at the same time, it recognizes that those racial equity gains tend to be undermined by racial outcomes that may remain uninvestigated and unchallenged in related areas. The two broad dynamics may play out differently in different regions and policy domains, but the general proposition is that “sorting” and the “progress-retrenchment” syndrome continually work to preserve historically embedded racial disadvantage.
Aspen Institute “Operationalizing a Structural Racism Framework: A Guide for Community Level Research and Action”
There are multiple dimensions of racism to consider, including: interpersonal, internalized, institutional, and structural. The definitions of each of these terms can be found in the document, Race, Power and Policy: Dismantling Structural Racism, p. 15)
Different Forms of Racism
Interpersonal: This refers to prejudices and discriminatory behaviors where one group makes assumptions about the abilities, motives and intents of other groups based on race. This set of prejudices leads to cruel intentional or unintentional actions towards the other groups.
Internalized: In a society in which all aspects of identity and experience are racialized, and one group is politically, socially and economically dominant, members of stigmatized groups, who are bombarded with negative messages about their own abilities and intrinsic worth, may internalize those negative messages. It holds people back from achieving their fullest potential. It also obscures the structural and systemic nature of racial oppression, and reinforces those systems.
Institutional: Where assumptions about race are structured into the social and economic institutions in our society. Institutional racism occurs when organizations, businesses, or institutions like schools and police departments discriminate, either deliberately or indirectly, against certain groups of people to limit their rights. This type of racism reflects the cultural assumptions of the dominant group.
Structural: This refers to the accumulation over centuries of the effects of racialized society. Think again about the creation of the white middle class and what it means today to have been left out of that process of wealth-creation, home ownership, college education, etc.
Race, Power and Policy: Dismantling Structural Racism, Different Forms of Racism, p. 15).
Our interest in this page is how a recognition of the structures that lead to the cumulative impacts of racism in society can lead to progressive, thoughtful action that can disrupt such cumulative impacts.
This partnership between Margaret’s and The Evaluation Centre is intended to raise questions that can help Margaret’s react to understandings of structural racism as a learning organization and as an organization that is responsive to the constituency of individuals it’s intended to serve.
QUESTIONS that INFORM our Work
Conceptual Understanding of Racism
- In what ways have you changed your thinking about how you need to adapt your services to respond to an understanding of structural racism?
- In your judgement are there institutional/systemic practices that perpetuate racial stereotypes? What can be done to disrupt such practices and beliefs?
- How does sorting happen in the housing system? What specific role does the City and other housing organizations play in such sorting? Which groups are made worse by the perpetuation of stereotypes?
Positioning your Organization
- What risks are your organization willing to take to operationalize its value of racial justice/racial equity?
- What risks have already been taken? Is the organization open to being explicit about naming structural racism?
Framing
- What specific existing practices need to be framed differently in order to recognize that such practices are race explicit (as opposed to race neutral)?
Different Types of Racism
Different types of racism exists including interpersonal, internalized, institutional, and structural. As an organization:
- What are you planning to do to ensure that services are responsive to each of these dimensions?
- What kind of systemic supports (from the City and other organizations) do you need to be responsive to these dimensions?
Structural Determinants of Health
- How can existing practices themselves better incorporate a lens that is sensitive to Structural Determinants of Health?
Need for Supportive Policies
- What kinds of policies need to be in place to disrupt existing practices of structural racism?
Role of Partners
Margaret’s is located in a network of organizations that includes other community organizations as well as the City.
- What can some of the partners do differently to help you with addressing issues of racial inequities?
- What new partnerships need to be developed in order to ensure that your practices including service delivery become more racially aware?
- What partnerships will help promote policies that can lead to disruptions in structural racism?
Skills and Capacities
- What specific skills and capacities are necessary to both help Margaret’s as well as the overall system move towards greater racial equity? How can such skills and capacities be developed?
Empowerment
Margaret’s provides services that are intended to address immediate concerns about food, housing, etc.
- In what ways can your practices be transformed to ensure that they lead to empowerment of individuals? Lead to greater voice?
Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation
- What kinds of data do you plan to collect from the individuals that you serve to better ensure that you are being responsive to ensure racial equity gains?
- How will you assess progress that demonstrates your awareness of being responsive to structural racism in the system and its impacts on individuals?
- What specific benchmarks will you use to monitor progress?
- How is your organization accounting for risks and unintended consequences of your work, especially those that may be potentially harmful to Black and Indigenous people and other People of Colour?
Understanding Power
- Based on your understanding of decision making in the housing system, where are the key tables of power?
- What are the racial and ethnic compositions of participants at the tables?
- Who is excluded from the tables?
Impacts of COVID
- In what ways has COVID exacerbated the impacts of structural racism among the clients and staff of Margaret’s?
- What help do you need from the City and other organizations to help mitigate these impacts?
- How are your services being adapted based on the feedback from Staff on their concerns about the pandemic? From Clients?
Our Framework
Questions we ask