social injustice essay on racism

Addressing Racism and Social Injustice

• Posted June 16, 2020
• By Emily Boudreau

In a 2015 convening, the Harvard Graduate School of Education asked, “What strategies can educators use to promote justice, fairness, tolerance, and genuine communication in our schools and society?” The discussion came eight months after Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black male, was killed by a white police office in Ferguson, Missouri, sparking a campaign to confront racism and police violence. The conversation was moderated by Professor Paul Reville , director of the Education Redesign Lab , with panelists Tiffany Anderson, then the superintendent of the Jennings School District in Missouri; Tracey Benson , Ed.L.D.’16, now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte; Ni’Cole Gipson, parent and social media activist; and Valeria Silva, former superintendent of St. Paul (Minnesota) Public Schools — all of whom offered insights on issues of race, inequality, and justice that resonate strongly today, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Here are a few highlights from that discussion.

How Tiffany Anderson amplified student voice to make a difference

The Jennings District is directly outside of Ferguson. In the days following the murder of Michael Brown, Anderson found a way to bring her students together and provided them with the resources they needed to advocate for themselves and their communities. Here, she talks about that experience.

Tracey Benson on why schools are uniquely positioned to effect change and start the conversation

Schools play a role in perpetuating systemic racism and inequality. Benson explains why schools also may have the power to disrupt that very system.  

Ni’Cole Gipson on why schools need to partner with families and communities to promote justice

Gipson and other parents worked to create safe and loving spaces for Ferguson’s students. Here, she talks about her experience as a parent and the ways in which schools might better support the conversations she, as a black woman in America, needs to have with her son.

Valeria Silva on the work school personnel and leadership must do to pave the way for discussion

Racism often goes unnoticed because it’s engrained in the system of schooling. Silva talks about the work teachers and school leaders must do to be consciously anti-racist and uproot discriminatory practices.

Additional Resources

• Harvard EdCast: Notes from Ferguson
• Exploring the historical roots of the enduring segregation that undermines urban schools.
• Harvard EdCast: Unconscious Bias in Schools

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Regions & Countries

Black americans have a clear vision for reducing racism but little hope it will happen, many say key u.s. institutions should be rebuilt to ensure fair treatment.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand the nuances among Black people on issues of racial inequality and social change in the United States. This in-depth survey explores differences among Black Americans in their views on the social status of the Black population in the U.S.; their assessments of racial inequality; their visions for institutional and social change; and their outlook on the chances that these improvements will be made. The analysis is the latest in the Center’s series of in-depth surveys of public opinion among Black Americans (read the first, “ Faith Among Black Americans ” and “ Race Is Central to Identity for Black Americans and Affects How They Connect With Each Other ”).

The online survey of 3,912 Black U.S. adults was conducted Oct. 4-17, 2021. Black U.S. adults include those who are single-race, non-Hispanic Black Americans; multiracial non-Hispanic Black Americans; and adults who indicate they are Black and Hispanic. The survey includes 1,025 Black adults on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP) and 2,887 Black adults on Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel. Respondents on both panels are recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses.

Recruiting panelists by phone or mail ensures that nearly all U.S. Black adults have a chance of selection. This gives us confidence that any sample can represent the whole population (see our Methods 101 explainer on random sampling). Here are the questions used for the survey of Black adults, along with its responses and methodology .

The terms “Black Americans,” “Black people” and “Black adults” are used interchangeably throughout this report to refer to U.S. adults who self-identify as Black, either alone or in combination with other races or Hispanic identity.

Throughout this report, “Black, non-Hispanic” respondents are those who identify as single-race Black and say they have no Hispanic background. “Black Hispanic” respondents are those who identify as Black and say they have Hispanic background. We use the terms “Black Hispanic” and “Hispanic Black” interchangeably. “Multiracial” respondents are those who indicate two or more racial backgrounds (one of which is Black) and say they are not Hispanic.

Respondents were asked a question about how important being Black was to how they think about themselves. In this report, we use the term “being Black” when referencing responses to this question.

In this report, “immigrant” refers to people who were not U.S. citizens at birth – in other words, those born outside the U.S., Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories to parents who were not U.S. citizens. We use the terms “immigrant,” “born abroad” and “foreign-born” interchangeably.

Throughout this report, “Democrats and Democratic leaners” and just “Democrats” both refer to respondents who identify politically with the Democratic Party or who are independent or some other party but lean toward the Democratic Party. “Republicans and Republican leaners” and just “Republicans” both refer to respondents who identify politically with the Republican Party or are independent or some other party but lean toward the Republican Party.

Respondents were asked a question about their voter registration status. In this report, respondents are considered registered to vote if they self-report being absolutely certain they are registered at their current address. Respondents are considered not registered to vote if they report not being registered or express uncertainty about their registration.

To create the upper-, middle- and lower-income tiers, respondents’ 2020 family incomes were adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and household size. Respondents were then placed into income tiers: “Middle income” is defined as two-thirds to double the median annual income for the entire survey sample. “Lower income” falls below that range, and “upper income” lies above it. For more information about how the income tiers were created, read the methodology .

More than a year after the murder of George Floyd and the national protests, debate and political promises that ensued, 65% of Black Americans say the increased national attention on racial inequality has not led to changes that improved their lives. 1 And 44% say equality for Black people in the United States is not likely to be achieved, according to newly released findings from an October 2021 survey of Black Americans by Pew Research Center.

This is somewhat of a reversal in views from September 2020, when half of Black adults said the increased national focus on issues of race would lead to major policy changes to address racial inequality in the country and 56% expected changes that would make their lives better.

At the same time, many Black Americans are concerned about racial discrimination and its impact. Roughly eight-in-ten say they have personally experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnicity (79%), and most also say discrimination is the main reason many Black people cannot get ahead (68%).  

Even so, Black Americans have a clear vision for how to achieve change when it comes to racial inequality. This includes support for significant reforms to or complete overhauls of several U.S. institutions to ensure fair treatment, particularly the criminal justice system; political engagement, primarily in the form of voting; support for Black businesses to advance Black communities; and reparations in the forms of educational, business and homeownership assistance. Yet alongside their assessments of inequality and ideas about progress exists pessimism about whether U.S. society and its institutions will change in ways that would reduce racism.

These findings emerge from an extensive Pew Research Center survey of 3,912 Black Americans conducted online Oct. 4-17, 2021. The survey explores how Black Americans assess their position in U.S. society and their ideas about social change. Overall, Black Americans are clear on what they think the problems are facing the country and how to remedy them. However, they are skeptical that meaningful changes will take place in their lifetime.

Black Americans see racism in our laws as a big problem and discrimination as a roadblock to progress

Black adults were asked in the survey to assess the current nature of racism in the United States and whether structural or individual sources of this racism are a bigger problem for Black people. About half of Black adults (52%) say racism in our laws is a bigger problem than racism by individual people, while four-in-ten (43%) say acts of racism committed by individual people is the bigger problem. Only 3% of Black adults say that Black people do not experience discrimination in the U.S. today.

In assessing the magnitude of problems that they face, the majority of Black Americans say racism (63%), police brutality (60%) and economic inequality (54%) are extremely or very big problems for Black people living in the U.S. Slightly smaller shares say the same about the affordability of health care (47%), limitations on voting (46%), and the quality of K-12 schools (40%).

Aside from their critiques of U.S. institutions, Black adults also feel the impact of racial inequality personally. Most Black adults say they occasionally or frequently experience unfair treatment because of their race or ethnicity (79%), and two-thirds (68%) cite racial discrimination as the main reason many Black people cannot get ahead today.

Black Americans’ views on reducing racial inequality

Black Americans are clear on the challenges they face because of racism. They are also clear on the solutions. These range from overhauls of policing practices and the criminal justice system to civic engagement and reparations to descendants of people enslaved in the United States.

Changing U.S. institutions such as policing, courts and prison systems

About nine-in-ten Black adults say multiple aspects of the criminal justice system need some kind of change (minor, major or a complete overhaul) to ensure fair treatment, with nearly all saying so about policing (95%), the courts and judicial process (95%), and the prison system (94%).

Roughly half of Black adults say policing (49%), the courts and judicial process (48%), and the prison system (54%) need to be completely rebuilt for Black people to be treated fairly. Smaller shares say the same about the political system (42%), the economic system (37%) and the health care system (34%), according to the October survey.

While Black Americans are in favor of significant changes to policing, most want spending on police departments in their communities to stay the same (39%) or increase (35%). A little more than one-in-five (23%) think spending on police departments in their area should be decreased.

Black adults who favor decreases in police spending are most likely to name medical, mental health and social services (40%) as the top priority for those reappropriated funds. Smaller shares say K-12 schools (25%), roads, water systems and other infrastructure (12%), and reducing taxes (13%) should be the top priority.

Voting and ‘buying Black’ viewed as important strategies for Black community advancement

Black Americans also have clear views on the types of political and civic engagement they believe will move Black communities forward. About six-in-ten Black adults say voting (63%) and supporting Black businesses or “buying Black” (58%) are extremely or very effective strategies for moving Black people toward equality in the U.S. Smaller though still significant shares say the same about volunteering with organizations dedicated to Black equality (48%), protesting (42%) and contacting elected officials (40%).

Black adults were also asked about the effectiveness of Black economic and political independence in moving them toward equality. About four-in-ten (39%) say Black ownership of all businesses in Black neighborhoods would be an extremely or very effective strategy for moving toward racial equality, while roughly three-in-ten (31%) say the same about establishing a national Black political party. And about a quarter of Black adults (27%) say having Black neighborhoods governed entirely by Black elected officials would be extremely or very effective in moving Black people toward equality.

Most Black Americans support repayment for slavery

Discussions about atonement for slavery predate the founding of the United States. As early as 1672 , Quaker abolitionists advocated for enslaved people to be paid for their labor once they were free. And in recent years, some U.S. cities and institutions have implemented reparations policies to do just that.

Most Black Americans say the legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people in the U.S. either a great deal (55%) or a fair amount (30%), according to the survey. And roughly three-quarters (77%) say descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should be repaid in some way.

Black adults who say descendants of the enslaved should be repaid support doing so in different ways. About eight-in-ten say repayment in the forms of educational scholarships (80%), financial assistance for starting or improving a business (77%), and financial assistance for buying or remodeling a home (76%) would be extremely or very helpful. A slightly smaller share (69%) say cash payments would be extremely or very helpful forms of repayment for the descendants of enslaved people.

Where the responsibility for repayment lies is also clear for Black Americans. Among those who say the descendants of enslaved people should be repaid, 81% say the U.S. federal government should have all or most of the responsibility for repayment. About three-quarters (76%) say businesses and banks that profited from slavery should bear all or most of the responsibility for repayment. And roughly six-in-ten say the same about colleges and universities that benefited from slavery (63%) and descendants of families who engaged in the slave trade (60%).

Black Americans are skeptical change will happen

Even though Black Americans’ visions for social change are clear, very few expect them to be implemented. Overall, 44% of Black adults say equality for Black people in the U.S. is a little or not at all likely. A little over a third (38%) say it is somewhat likely and only 13% say it is extremely or very likely.

They also do not think specific institutions will change. Two-thirds of Black adults say changes to the prison system (67%) and the courts and judicial process (65%) that would ensure fair treatment for Black people are a little or not at all likely in their lifetime. About six-in-ten (58%) say the same about policing. Only about one-in-ten say changes to policing (13%), the courts and judicial process (12%), and the prison system (11%) are extremely or very likely.

This pessimism is not only about the criminal justice system. The majority of Black adults say the political (63%), economic (62%) and health care (51%) systems are also unlikely to change in their lifetime.

Black Americans’ vision for social change includes reparations. However, much like their pessimism about institutional change, very few think they will see reparations in their lifetime. Among Black adults who say the descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should be repaid, 82% say reparations for slavery are unlikely to occur in their lifetime. About one-in-ten (11%) say repayment is somewhat likely, while only 7% say repayment is extremely or very likely to happen in their lifetime.

Black Democrats, Republicans differ on assessments of inequality and visions for social change

Party affiliation is one key point of difference among Black Americans in their assessments of racial inequality and their visions for social change. Black Republicans and Republican leaners are more likely than Black Democrats and Democratic leaners to focus on the acts of individuals. For example, when summarizing the nature of racism against Black people in the U.S., the majority of Black Republicans (59%) say racist acts committed by individual people is a bigger problem for Black people than racism in our laws. Black Democrats (41%) are less likely to hold this view.

Black Republicans (45%) are also more likely than Black Democrats (21%) to say that Black people who cannot get ahead in the U.S. are mostly responsible for their own condition. And while similar shares of Black Republicans (79%) and Democrats (80%) say they experience racial discrimination on a regular basis, Republicans (64%) are more likely than Democrats (36%) to say that most Black people who want to get ahead can make it if they are willing to work hard.

On the other hand, Black Democrats are more likely than Black Republicans to focus on the impact that racial inequality has on Black Americans. Seven-in-ten Black Democrats (73%) say racial discrimination is the main reason many Black people cannot get ahead in the U.S, while about four-in-ten Black Republicans (44%) say the same. And Black Democrats are more likely than Black Republicans to say racism (67% vs. 46%) and police brutality (65% vs. 44%) are extremely big problems for Black people today.

Black Democrats are also more critical of U.S. institutions than Black Republicans are. For example, Black Democrats are more likely than Black Republicans to say the prison system (57% vs. 35%), policing (52% vs. 29%) and the courts and judicial process (50% vs. 35%) should be completely rebuilt for Black people to be treated fairly.

While the share of Black Democrats who want to see large-scale changes to the criminal justice system exceeds that of Black Republicans, they share similar views on police funding. Four-in-ten each of Black Democrats and Black Republicans say funding for police departments in their communities should remain the same, while around a third of each partisan coalition (36% and 37%, respectively) says funding should increase. Only about one-in-four Black Democrats (24%) and one-in-five Black Republicans (21%) say funding for police departments in their communities should decrease.

Among the survey’s other findings:

Black adults differ by age in their views on political strategies. Black adults ages 65 and older (77%) are most likely to say voting is an extremely or very effective strategy for moving Black people toward equality. They are significantly more likely than Black adults ages 18 to 29 (48%) and 30 to 49 (60%) to say this. Black adults 65 and older (48%) are also more likely than those ages 30 to 49 (38%) and 50 to 64 (42%) to say protesting is an extremely or very effective strategy. Roughly four-in-ten Black adults ages 18 to 29 say this (44%).

Gender plays a role in how Black adults view policing. Though majorities of Black women (65%) and men (56%) say police brutality is an extremely big problem for Black people living in the U.S. today, Black women are more likely than Black men to hold this view. When it comes to criminal justice, Black women (56%) and men (51%) are about equally likely to share the view that the prison system should be completely rebuilt to ensure fair treatment of Black people. However, Black women (52%) are slightly more likely than Black men (45%) to say this about policing. On the matter of police funding, Black women (39%) are slightly more likely than Black men (31%) to say police funding in their communities should be increased. On the other hand, Black men are more likely than Black women to prefer that funding stay the same (44% vs. 36%). Smaller shares of both Black men (23%) and women (22%) would like to see police funding decreased.

Income impacts Black adults’ views on reparations. Roughly eight-in-ten Black adults with lower (78%), middle (77%) and upper incomes (79%) say the descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should receive reparations. Among those who support reparations, Black adults with upper and middle incomes (both 84%) are more likely than those with lower incomes (75%) to say educational scholarships would be an extremely or very helpful form of repayment. However, of those who support reparations, Black adults with lower (72%) and middle incomes (68%) are more likely than those with higher incomes (57%) to say cash payments would be an extremely or very helpful form of repayment for slavery.

• Black adults in the September 2020 survey only include those who say their race is Black alone and are non-Hispanic. The same is true only for the questions of improvements to Black people’s lives and equality in the United States in the October 2021 survey. Throughout the rest of this report, Black adults include those who say their race is Black alone and non-Hispanic; those who say their race is Black and at least one other race and non-Hispanic; or Black and Hispanic, unless otherwise noted. ↩

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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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Stanford scholars examine systemic racism, how to advance racial justice in America

Black History Month is an opportunity to reflect on the Black experience in America and examine continuing systemic racism and discrimination in the U.S. – issues many Stanford scholars are tackling in their research and scholarship.

A pandemic that disproportionately affected communities of color, roadblocks that obstructed efforts to expand the franchise and protect voting discrimination, a growing movement to push anti-racist curricula out of schools – events over the past year have only underscored how prevalent systemic racism and bias is in America today.

What can be done to dismantle centuries of discrimination in the U.S.? How can a more equitable society be achieved? What makes racism such a complicated problem to solve? Black History Month is a time marked for honoring and reflecting on the experience of Black Americans, and it is also an opportunity to reexamine our nation’s deeply embedded racial problems and the possible solutions that could help build a more equitable society.

Stanford scholars are tackling these issues head-on in their research from the perspectives of history, education, law and other disciplines. For example, historian Clayborne Carson is working to preserve and promote the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and religious studies scholar Lerone A. Martin has joined Stanford to continue expanding access and opportunities to learn from King’s teachings; sociologist Matthew Clair is examining how the criminal justice system can end a vicious cycle involving the disparate treatment of Black men; and education scholar Subini Ancy Annamma is studying ways to make education more equitable for historically marginalized students.

Learn more about these efforts and other projects examining racism and discrimination in areas like health and medicine, technology and the workplace below.

Update: Jan. 27, 2023: This story was originally published on Feb. 16, 2021, and has been updated on a number of occasions to include new content.

Understanding the impact of racism; advancing justice

One of the hardest elements of advancing racial justice is helping everyone understand the ways in which they are involved in a system or structure that perpetuates racism, according to Stanford legal scholar Ralph Richard Banks.

“The starting point for the center is the recognition that racial inequality and division have long been the fault line of American society. Thus, addressing racial inequity is essential to sustaining our nation, and furthering its democratic aspirations,” said Banks , the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and co-founder of the Stanford Center for Racial Justice .

This sentiment was echoed by Stanford researcher Rebecca Hetey . One of the obstacles in solving inequality is people’s attitudes towards it, Hetey said. “One of the barriers of reducing inequality is how some people justify and rationalize it.”

How people talk about race and stereotypes matters. Here is some of that scholarship.

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Scholar Subini Ancy Annamma is studying ways to make education more equitable for historically marginalized students. Annamma’s research examines how schools contribute to the criminalization of Black youths by creating a culture of punishment that penalizes Black children more harshly than their white peers for the same behavior. Her work shows that youth of color are more likely to be closely watched, over-represented in special education, and reported to and arrested by police.

“These are all ways in which schools criminalize Black youth,” she said. “Day after day, these things start to sediment.”

That’s why Annamma has identified opportunities for teachers and administrators to intervene in these unfair practices. Below is some of that research, from Annamma and others.

New ‘Segregation Index’ shows American schools remain highly segregated by race, ethnicity, and economic status

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School closures intensify gentrification in Black neighborhoods nationwide

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Access to program for black male students lowered dropout rates

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Research has shown that time and time again, inequality is embedded into all facets of the criminal justice system. From being arrested to being charged, convicted and sentenced, people of color – particularly Black men – are disproportionately targeted by the police.

“So many reforms are needed: police accountability, judicial intervention, reducing prosecutorial power and increasing resources for public defenders are places we can start,” said sociologist Matthew Clair . “But beyond piecemeal reforms, we need to continue having critical conversations about transformation and the role of the courts in bringing about the abolition of police and prisons.”

Clair is one of several Stanford scholars who have examined the intersection of race and the criminal process and offered solutions to end the vicious cycle of racism. Here is some of that work.

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More racial diversity among physicians would lead to better health among black men

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Infants’ race influences quality of hospital care in California

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Excess mortality rates early in pandemic highest among Blacks

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been starkly uneven across race, ethnicity and geography, according to a new study led by SHP's Maria Polyakova.

Decoding bias in media, technology

Driving Artificial Intelligence are machine learning algorithms, sets of rules that tell a computer how to solve a problem, perform a task and in some cases, predict an outcome. These predictive models are based on massive datasets to recognize certain patterns, which according to communication scholar Angele Christin , sometimes come flawed with human bias . 

“Technology changes things, but perhaps not always as much as we think,” Christin said. “Social context matters a lot in shaping the actual effects of the technological tools. […] So, it’s important to understand that connection between humans and machines.”

Below is some of that research, as well as other ways discrimination unfolds across technology, in the media, and ways to counteract it.

IRS disproportionately audits Black taxpayers

A Stanford collaboration with the Department of the Treasury yields the first direct evidence of differences in audit rates by race.

Automated speech recognition less accurate for blacks

The disparity likely occurs because such technologies are based on machine learning systems that rely heavily on databases of English as spoken by white Americans.

New algorithm trains AI to avoid bad behaviors

Robots, self-driving cars and other intelligent machines could become better-behaved thanks to a new way to help machine learning designers build AI applications with safeguards against specific, undesirable outcomes such as racial and gender bias.

Stanford scholar analyzes responses to algorithms in journalism, criminal justice

In a recent study, assistant professor of communication Angèle Christin finds a gap between intended and actual uses of algorithmic tools in journalism and criminal justice fields.

Move responsibly and think about things

In the course CS 181: Computers, Ethics and Public Policy , Stanford students become computer programmers, policymakers and philosophers to examine the ethical and social impacts of technological innovation.

Homicide victims from Black and Hispanic neighborhoods devalued

Social scientists found that homicide victims killed in Chicago’s predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods received less news coverage than those killed in mostly white neighborhoods.

Algorithms reveal changes in stereotypes

New Stanford research shows that, over the past century, linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changes in the U.S. Census data.

AI Index Diversity Report: An Unmoving Needle

Stanford HAI’s 2021 AI Index reveals stalled progress in diversifying AI and a scarcity of the data needed to fix it.

Identifying discrimination in the workplace and economy

From who moves forward in the hiring process to who receives funding from venture capitalists, research has revealed how Blacks and other minority groups are discriminated against in the workplace and economy-at-large. 

“There is not one silver bullet here that you can walk away with. Hiring and retention with respect to employee diversity are complex problems,” said Adina Sterling , associate professor of organizational behavior at the Graduate School of Business (GSB). 

Sterling has offered a few places where employers can expand employee diversity at their companies. For example, she suggests hiring managers track data about their recruitment methods and the pools that result from those efforts, as well as examining who they ultimately hire.

Here is some of that insight.

How To: Use a Scorecard to Evaluate People More Fairly

A written framework is an easy way to hold everyone to the same standard.

Archiving Black histories of Silicon Valley

A new collection at Stanford Libraries will highlight Black Americans who helped transform California’s Silicon Valley region into a hub for innovation, ideas.

Race influences professional investors’ judgments

In their evaluations of high-performing venture capital funds, professional investors rate white-led teams more favorably than they do black-led teams with identical credentials, a new Stanford study led by Jennifer L. Eberhardt finds.

Who moves forward in the hiring process?

People whose employment histories include part-time, temporary help agency or mismatched work can face challenges during the hiring process, according to new research by Stanford sociologist David Pedulla.

How emotions may result in hiring, workplace bias

Stanford study suggests that the emotions American employers are looking for in job candidates may not match up with emotions valued by jobseekers from some cultural backgrounds – potentially leading to hiring bias.

Do VCs really favor white male founders?

A field experiment used fake emails to measure gender and racial bias among startup investors.

Can you spot diversity? (Probably not)

New research shows a “spillover effect” that might be clouding your judgment.

Can job referrals improve employee diversity?

New research looks at how referrals impact promotions of minorities and women.

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Navigating race and injustice in America’s middle class

Subscribe to the center for economic security and opportunity newsletter, jennifer m. silva and jennifer m. silva assistant professor - paul h. o’neill school of public and environmental affairs, indiana university @jensilva422 tiffany n. ford tiffany n. ford nonresident fellow - economic studies , center for economic security and opportunity @tiffnford.

October 29, 2020

• 13 min read

This blog includes excerpts from a longer paper entitled “’What if something happens?’: A qualitative study of the hopes and anxieties of the American middle class before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The United States of  America is a race-plural nation  –  the American  middle class is no different .  If we define the  middle class  as those in the middle 60 percent of the household income distribution, with annual household incomes between $40,000 and $154,000, then 5 9 percent of the middle class is white ,  12  percent  of the group  is Black,  18  percent is Hispanic , and  6  percent is Asian .

Given the racial make-up of this group ,  this  current  period of  civil unrest ,  and the looming presidential election,  it is more important than ever  for those of us concerned with the well-being of the American middle class  to understand the attitudes of different  racial  groups  within the middle class .  In a Brookings study begun in late 2019, in which we conducted focus groups and personal interviews with a broad range of middle-class Americans, we were able to have real discussions about race, racism, identity, and injustice. To promote comfort and honesty, we stratified  our focus group s   by  race and  gender , which  allowed  different   middle-class   race-gender  groups to talk openly about their experiences in their workplaces, with their families,  communities, and in their  everyday lives. Below, we present what members of the American middle class had to say about racial injustice, both in the months leading up to the first identified case and in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Navigating Injustice    

Summer 2020 witnessed national uprisings against racism and police brutality, with deeply rooted tensions concerning power, identity, injustice, and belonging that erupted into protests, riots, and lethal violence. These tensions were already brewing in our conversations about identity and respect in our focus groups in the fall of 2019.  For  the   Black and Hispanic   people in  the focus groups, experiences of disrespect and discrimination in the workplace were prevalent. Black women described how they had to restrain their emotions and opinions out of fear of retaliation or conflict, while also working harder to be given a fair chance. As Patricia, a Black woman who works in IT, describes: “I got to work harder. I have to work hard. I have to bust my kneecaps and ankles, just for somebody to give me a chance. I have to not respond the way someone would expect for me to respond so that they can respect me. Nobody respects women, and especially a Black woman.”      

Black and Hispanic  individuals attested to racism in their everyday lives, whether stereotyping by their co-workers, discrimination in higher education, or racial profiling in the criminal justice system.

Black and Hispanic  individuals attested to racism in their everyday lives, whether stereotyping by their co-workers, discrimination in higher education, or racial profiling in the criminal justice system. Justin, a Hispanic man in a Las Vegas, Nevada, focus group, shared his experience, “I’ve never had a positive association or positive experience with a cop pulling me over.  I got to a point where being Hispanic and being behind the wheel at night, it was almost a no-go for me.”  In Prince George’s County, Maryland, Black men described being “trolled for speeding” when they ventured into suburban areas and getting “pulled over because you ‘fit the description’” when they were wearing dreads, driving a nice car, or simply having a laundry bag in their backseat. One man said soberly, “ In most of our movies, the person dies. A lot of these movies conditioned us to not prepare for a long life, not prepare for marriage. We figure we get to twenty-one, man, I’m blessed.”    

“I’ve never had a positive association or positive experience with a cop pulling me over.”

In Houston, Texas, Black men referred to the “ in justice system,” documenting their fears of their children “getting railroaded for something petty” while wealthy people “get a slap on the wrist, two to three years’ probation for something petty,  while they just violated my child and mess them up for life.” One man tied crime to economic inequality and racism, explaining, “Just because I can’t get a job, the bills don’t stop coming. I can’t get a job. My child’s stomach’s not going to stop rumbling.” Another man chimed in, “It’s more profitable to keep us locked up and to keep this system rolling because you’re rented out as free labor, you’re rented out for for-profit prisons, and there is a quota the police and system has to make to keep those facilities rented.  My biggest thing is to keep my children out of their facilities.” [1]   Men and women in the Black and Hispanic focus groups attempted to acknowledge and fight against injustice,  but also tried to protect themselves from exhaustion and despair.  As a Black woman in Wichita, Kansas, noted, “I can switch it off  real  quick if I see stuff, like even with the police officers killing a lot of  B lack men, and women too, I can tune in and tune out.  I don’t want to see that, I don’t want to watch that, because all it does is bring my spirit down. So, I’m an optimist on life in general, and just knowing that the future is going to be as bright as you make it, it’s up to us to make our future bright.”     

Brian, a 57-year-old Black man from Detroit, Michigan, moved to Texas when the automobile factories were closing, leaving behind “a post-apocalyptic world.” In Houston, he  moved into the technology field, performing computer upgrades and technical assistance on government contracts.  Brian has not had steady benefits such as health insurance or retirement contributions as a contract worker, yet has invested substantially in his own career advancement, most recently in a $7,500 online course on data security. Since COVID-19 hit, he has been “trying to get two certifications, maybe three, between now and Labor Day weekend, because right now it’s just very hard to get a job because the work source is gone. The unemployment office, they’re closed. You can’t go online because the website just keeps crashing if you get on there.”  He has been getting some help from SNAP.  Brian reflects, “I think that if you want the American Dream, if you’re a minority, you have to work so much harder. I mean, you can get it, but you’ve just got to work a lot harder. There have been times when I’ve been down here where I think that race played a part in me getting the job, because when you’re the only Black person and everybody else is white, you kind of figure you’re probably the token guy that they kind of had to hire, to keep the government off of them. I’ve had a couple of jobs like that. I think there’s just a lot more opportunities, if I were lighter-skinned or white.” He continues: “I mean, plus what’s going on in Detroit right now. I mean, they’ve got the highest COVID cases in the country, and like I said. Detroit is 80% B lack, so, like I said. That’s one reason why I’m glad I’m not there.”    

Nostalgia and Resentment    

For some of the white people we spoke with, we heard anger toward perceived “quota-filling” hiring practices or attacks from the “left.” Some white participants resented being put into a racial category at all, while others feared they were on their way to becoming a “minority” in America. Leslie, a white woman from Las Vegas, described her experiences: “The culture has definitely shifted. Because in the [19]80’s, I think being a white working American woman, a lot of people strived for that, and now we are definitely the minority. I feel like we’re the minority and [we’re] discriminated against, especially in the workplace.” Other white people believed that race had become too politicized in recent years, fueling unnecessary conflict between Americans of different racial groups. Jake, a white pastor from Pennsylvania, put it, “There’s this bizarre focus on race. And granted there are racists, there’s always been racists, there’s always going to be racists. But it seemed like the country went from this, we’re all in this together mentality, to we’ve literally been carved out. They’ve carved us out into groups now.  I don’t understand why we’re now white people. It just feels like we were people. When I was in New York, we were people. Some of my best friends were the people I worked with who were all different shades of different stuff.”   

Promoting a colorblind [2]   view of the world, Jake, a white Trump supporter, continued, “We elected our first Black president, which was supposed to be this big deal. I didn’t care if he was Black. I cared that he didn’t have any experience and I thought he shouldn’t have got the job.” While Jake insists that racism is wrong, he does not like how quotas – “the numbers” –  seem to have replaced individual merit: “Almost anywhere you go to fill out something now, you’re asked specifically,  are you Latino or Hispanic? Are minorities receiving maybe some additional treatment because we have to get our numbers up to match and we want this to look fair and equal?” In his interview, Jake also worried about a growing “disrespect for our authorities, like police officers. In ministry, there are people who don’t live the way they’re supposed to live.  Everybody makes bad choices and doesn’t, but you can’t throw everybody out because just one or two make bad choices. Any profession, any type of work you do, is going to have some bad apples.” [3]   Overall, Jake seemed perplexed by enduring racial conflict and resentful that we can’t all just be “people.”    

Joe, a white man with a high school diploma who works an entry-level factory job, asserts that America has been “going downhill since 1965.”  Joe favors protections for workers such as trade barriers, opposes US involvement in foreign wars, and generally supports “left-wing economic ideas,” labeling himself “kind of a Socialist.”  But Joe is staunchly against immigration, insisting, “End it. All of it. Until every single American has a job and is taken care of, we have no business importing competitive labor.” He is also right-wing on cultural issues – “My issues with the Democrats are cultural progressive issues. I’m all for universal health care, universal basic income. But then they push all the progressive cultural issues. I joke around and say, give me the universal health care but hold the gay marriage.”  While Joe voted for Trump in 2016, now he thinks Trump “has to go” because he has supported Wall Street over American workers.    

Joe tentatively tells us about his involvement in white nationalist politics. He has long been involved in Civil War reenactments and has traced his American roots back to the 1660s in New England. He struggles to define what it means to be American today: “if anybody can be an American, then what’s it really  mean ?” When I ask if it used to mean something, he replies, “Well, when you say he was an American, you knew what they were talking about. That you’re someone of European ancestry. Originally it was white English Protestants and they had different waves of immigration after that. But until the 1960’s, it was pretty straightforward what an American was.  Now that’s becoming much more diversified.” Joe has been heavily involved in the Confederate flag and monument controversies and was part of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. He states, “But what irks me is the monuments, particularly those put up by widows and orphans to their fallen kin. I think that’s low. It’s almost a personal attack because history is the foundation of my identity is the way I look at it. It’s an attack on white American history more than anything else.” Joe worries about his children growing up as a “minority,” viewing diverse societies as unsustainable and prone to “culture ruptures” and violence. He feels betrayed by Donald Trump’s treatment of the white nationalists in Charlottesville, telling his supporters to “go out there and fight those people, but then when people do it, he leaves them out to dry, which I think is kind of a cheap move.” He says he is willing to give Joe Biden a chance in November.      

Evidence of racial inequality abounds.

Evidence of racial inequality abounds.  Qualitative data from our American Middle Class   Hopes and  Anxieties  Study i s yet another contribution to that body of evidence . Black, Hispanic , and white  middle class  Americans have  had  vastly  different experiences  in America – to say the least – and  thus  hold  different views   on  current  inequalities.  Armed  with the ir  stories, we are better  prepared to  think more carefully about how to  address injustice  and inequality ,  challenge misinformation, and  bridge  the nation’s  longstanding divides .  

About the Study  

The Future of the Middle Class Initiative has spent the last several years studying the American middle class. We have  explored  survey dat a ,  reviewed  the literature, and consulted with experts. But we also wanted to base our conclusions on talking to members  of the middle class, listening to their  stories , and in the process ,  deepen ing   our understanding of their lives and their well-being.  

In fall of 2019, we launched the American Middle Class Hopes and Anxieties Study , a  mixed- methods study that brings together in-depth interviews, survey data, focus groups, and quantitative analysis to better understand how the middle class is faring across five core domains :  time, money, health, respect, and relationships. For the first phase of our study, we conducted twelve focus groups in five locations across the United States, with a total of 127 white, Black, and Hispanic or Latino middle – class   Americans .

In April of 2020, we began phase II of the study, conducting one-on-one in-depth interviews with a subset of the focus group participants. As a result of these interviews , we were able to   hone in on  the new challenges that have arisen as a result of COVID-19, including balancing childcare and work, sharing household tasks, coping with mental and physical health concerns, and dealing with economic uncertainty .  

This work would not have been possible without the collaboration of Econometrica, Inc. researchers and the generosity of the 127 middle class Americans who shared their stories.

[1] See Rios, Victor. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys . New York, NY: NYU Press, 2011.

[2] Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism without Racists. Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009.

[3] Rashawn, Ray. “Bad apples come from rotten trees in policing.” Brookings How We Rise (blog), May 30, 2020. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2020/05/30/bad-apples-come-from-rotten-trees-in-policing/

Jennifer M. Silva did not receive financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. The author is not currently an officer, director, or board member of any organization with a financial or political interest in this article.

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Racism and Social Justice

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• Robbie W. C. Tourse 4 ,
• Johnnie Hamilton-Mason 5 &
• Nancy J. Wewiorski 6  

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Social justice is an ideal condition in which all members of a society have the same basic rights, protections, opportunities, obligations, and social benefits. Racism, in essence, is the lack of “fair” treatment of racial groups designated as “other” in the society. Consequently, when racism becomes institutionalized in a society, social justice is compromised. This chapter examines the connection between racism and social justice. Human rights is discussed as the overarching principle for social justice, and social justice is defined. Social justice and injustice with respect to race and the processes by which they are achieved are considered through examples of inequality in three types of justice: distributive, procedural, and interactional. Race also is discussed as an important factor in the extent to which immigrants experience social injustice. The chapter further explores issues of social justice for the core groups and recent immigrants through examples. An intersectional analysis is applied to understand the ways in which gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, and ethnicity intersect and how racial scaffolding influences their intersection.

• Social justice
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Tourse, R.W.C., Hamilton-Mason, J., Wewiorski, N.J. (2018). Racism and Social Justice. In: Systemic Racism in the United States. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72233-7_8

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Racial Justice in the 21st Century: New Remedies for Persistent Problems

Many groups of people have suffered invidious discrimination in America, and some still do. In addition to people of African descent, women, gays, Latinos, Jews, Muslims, Catholics and many other religious groups, atheists, the Irish (“No Irish need apply!”), Germans and Italians (especially during wartime), Asians and, to one extent or another, virtually every ethnic immigrant group, as well as the disabled have all suffered grievously and unjustly from invidious discrimination-in employment, housing, education and public accommodations. Such discrimination has limited those opportunities that are supposed to be part of the American ethos, and has fostered inequalities that are dissonant to the American dream and to the reason that many immigrants came to this country in the first instance.

But of all these groups, only those of African descent were captured in their homelands, brought here against their will, sold into slavery, fundamentally dehumanized and had their family structure brutally broken. And only African-Americans, following slavery, were subjected to Jim Crow laws for an additional century, enforced by state-sanctioned terrorism. This unique and legalized subjugation, based on skin color and national origin, stifled opportunity, suffocated ambition, especially in the young, and imposed inequalities far more severe and far more durable, than any suffered by any other discriminated-against group. It does not diminish the injustice or the damage done to other groups to suggest that what this country, by state action and inaction at every level, did to people of African descent was fundamentally different in kind and that this difference accounts for the special difficulties we have experienced in recent years in finding remedies that are just, lasting and effective.

The end of slavery and the promises of Reconstruction foundered quickly as the jungle of racial injustice took back the road of equal rights and opportunities. The politics and the dominant culture of white supremacy swiftly reasserted themselves, Jim Crow laws were established throughout the South and for another century African-Americans remained subjugated and dehumanized based on the color of their skin to a degree unmatched by any other form of American discrimination. By the time the modern civil rights movement arose during the mid-20th century, an unprecedented subjugation, blessed by law, had flourished for nearly three hundred years. It was precisely this legalized subjugation that was the major target of the modern civil rights movement. And it succeeded to a remarkable degree, and at a surprising pace. Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954; Rosa Parks sat down in a Montgomery bus in 1955; the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in 1963; and in an exhilarating five year period, three federal laws were passed-the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968-that taken together established a legal framework for racial justice. Over intense, often violent, opposition, with much courage and with more than a little bloodshed, the civil rights movement had succeeded, by 1968, in dismantling the legal infrastructure of Jim Crow and replacing it with a legal infrastructure designed to ensure legal equality and remedy both individual and systemic instances of discrimination. And despite the enormous difficulties inherent in the enforcement efforts that followed the passage of these laws, and the much-too-slow pace of enforcement, it is fair to say that the regime of legalized discrimination based on skin color no longer exists and that formal, legal equality does.

However, the establishment of formal, legal equality has not led to the elimination of unjust differences based on skin color: major disproportions persist in education, housing, imprisonment, family structure, unemployment, wealth and opportunities for advancement. To some commentators, notably those who, like Charles Murray, never were prominently involved in the effort to dismantle Jim Crow or establish formal equality, the persistence of these disproportions is evidence of innate inferiorities linked to skin color. To others, notably those who were in the forefront of the civil rights movement, the persistence of these disproportions is evidence that the institutionalized injuries imposed by centuries of slavery and legalized skin-color subjugation were far more severe and durable than imagined, and that the remedies for such injuries lie somewhere beyond the establishment of formal, legal equality.

Melvin Oliver’s work on the huge and persistent differentials in wealth and assets, as distinct from the narrowing differentials in income, provide a profound example of the way in which past injuries have functioned as a kind of seniority system for inequality.

Seniority systems in employment, in the absence of prior skin-color discrimination, would seem to be a fair way of distributing scarce jobs and promotions. But layered on top of centuries of skin-color discrimination and exclusion, seniority systems have the effect, if not the intention, of replicating and reifying inequality, of rewarding the unjust beneficiaries and punishing the victims of prior discriminations and exclusions, thereby deepening and aggravating the initial injury. This is true even if the seniority system is currently and prospectively implemented in a race-neutral way; indeed, race-neutral mechanisms layered onto systems created by prior exclusions and discrimination almost always and inevitably have the function and effect of perpetuating and worsening the original exclusion. This fact is the basis for the moral and legal foundation for affirmative action.

But while such affirmative action remedies, if implemented, may cure structurally discriminatory employment systems, the deeper inequalities in wealth and assets — and the ways in which those deeper inequalities limit equal opportunities across a broad spectrum of essential items such as housing, jobs, education and capital formation — do not yield and probably cannot yield to such legal remedies. In effect, such deeper inequalities are able to maintain themselves without any current violation of law and in the absence of any current discrimination. For although those structural inequalities based on skin color were created and maintained by governmental actions, they do not require any governmental action now or prospectively in order to maintain unjust skin-color differentials into the indefinite future. Nor is it necessary for anti-discrimination laws to be violated in order for such differentials to endure. In effect, a regime of formal equality, layered on top of these structural inequalities, functions as a seniority system for injustice, placing a veneer of fairness over a fundamentally unfair structure. Indeed, it is for this reason that the remedies of formal equality, developed during the era when establishing formal equality was critical, are no longer sufficient to establish remedies for racial injustice and in some instances may even be regressive.

It is as if the soft and mobile substance of social opportunities had been constrained and deformed for centuries by the hard shell of legalized skin-color subjugation. The heroic and revolutionary achievement of the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century was to break apart and remove that hard outer shell. But when it did, to the deep disappointment of advocates for racial justice, we discovered that the inside had assumed the form of the shell: too many decades of constraint had robbed it of its elasticity; the deformation had become ossified. Moreover, the obligation to do more must be upon the society as a whole and the government in particular because it was society and the government, at every level through action and inaction that created and maintained the injuries and the consequences that we now face and endure. The obligation to remedy derives from the source of the injury. This is the moral and philosophical basis for both affirmative action and the recent movement for reparations; it is not necessary to endorse any particular affirmative action proposal or any particular reparations proposal in order to recognize the moral and philosophical societal obligation to repair the institutionalized damage done.

New paradigms will have to be developed, new ways of thinking about and analyzing the problem, new ways of conceiving the problem will have to be invented before remedies can be found for the racial injustice lying ossified beneath the hard, outer shell. The fact is that the search for such remedies represents an entirely different stage of the quest for racial justice. As it turns out, the legal paradigms and remedies that were developed for the successful assault on the hard outer shell of legalized skin-color subjugation, and which were responsible for the establishment of formal equality-an immense and revolutionary accomplishment-are insufficient for the next stage of the struggle: the assault on the ossified social and economic inequalities created by centuries of legalized subjugation. And it is also possible that the people-heroes all-who led the initial assault on the outer shell, many of whom were lawyers, are too confined by their training and by their past success to be the ones likely to develop new paradigms and new weapons; certainly, they are unlikely to be the exclusive ones or even the dominant ones, as they were during the first stage. It is for this reason that the Glasser Fellows should be chosen from a broad spectrum of backgrounds: e.g., journalists, economists, sociologists, political scientists as well as lawyers. And because experience sometimes serves as a barrier to new thinking and because young people unburdened by old paradigms often look at an old problem with fresh eyes (it is interesting to note in this regard that virtually every major historical breakthrough in mathematics and theoretical physics has been made by people younger than 30, and that over a long and rich scholarly life Einstein never again reached the level of new thinking that he did as a young man when he developed the Special and General Theory of Relativity; that example is typical, not aberrational), it might well be advisable to choose some of the Fellows from among the young, as well as from the accomplished, providing those special few can be identified.

At the same time, it would be a mistake to assume that because formal equality exists, current skin-color and ethnic discrimination does not. To the contrary, traditional discrimination-against Latinos, Asian Americans, Arab-Americans and others, as well as African-Americans– continues to escape the enforcement of civil rights laws. More significantly, new forms of government-driven skin-color subjugation have developed, of which drug prohibition and the explosion of incarceration provide one outstanding and consequential example. The racially targeted enforcement of drug prohibition and the racially skewed and exponential growth of the prison population now function as a successor state-action system to Jim Crow injustice. This is evident from arrest patterns, search and seizure patterns, conviction rates, sentencing disparities, racial profiling on highways and customs checkpoints and felony disenfranchisement. In effect, the racially skewed prosecution of the drug war represents a partial resurrection of the hard outer shell of legalized discrimination, and must be attacked as such. The targeting of Arab-Americans during post- 9/11 civil liberties violations provides another example. Thus, the focus of the Fellows program cannot be exclusively devoted to the second-stage problem described above, but must also be focused on new forms of old injustices, some of them arising in ways that traditional civil rights advocates have not always been swift to recognize.

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Issues of Race, Equity, and Social Justice: Addressing the Impact of Racial Trauma and Inequality on Ethnic Minority Families

The prevalence of historical trauma within minority communities has been well documented. When we examine the effects that disparities have had on these communities, we have found that there is a greater incidence of trauma and violence among ethnic minority children and youth and those impacted by poverty. Similarly, underprivileged youth are overrepresented in child welfare and juvenile justice settings, and those same individuals who are often impacted by poverty are less likely to access quality services. Certainly, disparities are closely linked with social or economic disadvantage and with lack of accessible, timely, quality health care. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social or economic obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group.

Mental Health America describes racism as "the combination of race-based prejudice and power" and notes that racialized trauma can come directly from other people or can be experienced within a wider system. In addition, racialized trauma can come as the result of a direct experience where racism is enacted on you (individual racism) and/or transmitted intergenerationally through larger societal entities (systemic racism). Indeed, the history of racial displacement, exclusion, and segregation has had lasting effects on BIPOC communities, illustrated by the persistent wealth gap between White and African American communities as well as the education gap between financially stable individuals and disadvantaged families.

What can everyone do to address racism and inequality

Addressing or responding to issues of racism and injustice is a complex task that includes changes on individual, community, and societal levels. Nevertheless, there are things that can be done in the effort to ensure that all individuals are treated fairly and that families are given equal access to services and opportunities. For example, making an effort to actively learn about the different groups represented in your organizations, schools, or communities can help to improve your understanding and respect for human diversity and individual differences. Learning more about the structural barriers that are faced in many communities and the disparities that occur with access to services is the first step in ensuring equitable opportunities for all children, youth, and families. It is also important that we continue to give those who are marginalized a voice. This can be done by making a conscious effort to engage and partner with individuals that are truly aware of the needs and challenges facing underserved and minority families.

Preventing and addressing trauma, violence, and discrimination in context

Effective violence prevention efforts take into account the factors that contribute to community violence at the individual, relationship, community and societal levels. These factors, summarized in the image below, may place individuals at increased risk for trauma exposure or oppression. When addressed, they can promote resiliency and support recovery. Within this guide, we have included unique challenges in the community as well as recommendations to address disparities and challenges unique to ethnic minorities and underserved families. Review our section “Challenges and Disparities for Disadvantaged and Minority Populations” to learn more about the racial and ethnic disparities related to rates of trauma and violence exposure, economic hardship, juvenile justice involvement, access to resources, etc.

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Click UYTC Race and Social Justice Guide to download a printable copy of the UYTC Race and Social Justice Guide , which includes recommendations and resources that can be used to support providers and families around issues involving racism, inequity, and social injustice.

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Racism & Social Injustice: Black Lives Matter

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Terminology

• Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc. #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) was formed in 2013 in response to Zimmerman’s acquittal. This Black-centered political movement is the brainchild of three women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. It has grown into a global organization, the Black Lives Matter Foundation. It is based in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. According to their website, their mission is to “eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.” They work to improve Black lives by stopping violent acts and advocating for Black innovation, imagination, and joy. This is done through political and ideological intervention, with a focus that also includes women, and members of the LGBTQ+ as well as all others who were not represented by other organizations. #BlackLivesMatter does not have a central structure of a hierarchy and works through local chapters. The organizations regularly hold protests to combat police brutality, inequality, racial profiling, and killings of blacks.

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• COINTELPRO - FBI Records
• COINTELPRO 2? FBI Targets “Black Identity Extremists” Despite Surge in White Supremacist Violence
• The COINTELPRO Papers Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States
• FBI COINTELPRO-Black Extremism This is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) main headquarters file on its counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) against "black nationalist hate groups," as the FBI called them. The file begins in 1967 and ends in 1971, and consists of 26 sections of documents organized in roughly chronological order.
• FBI Intelligence Assessment - Black Identity Extremists Most Likely To Target Law Enforcement Officers (August 3, 2017)
• FBI warned of white supremacists in law enforcement 10 years ago. Has anything changed? - PBSNewsHour
• The Untold Story of COINTELPRO: Past & Present One of the foremost websites that documents the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program in America. NOTE: Internet Archive is provided as original site has been removed.

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• All Power to The People! Opening with a montage of four hundred years of race injustice in America, this powerful documentary provides the historical context for the establishment of the 60's civil rights movement. Rare clips of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and other activists transport one back to those tumultuous times. Organized by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, the Black Panther Party embodied every major element of the civil rights movement which preceded it and inspired the black, brown, yellow, Native American, and women's power movements which followed. more... less... The party struck fear in the hearts of the "establishment" which viewed it as a terrorist group. Interviews with former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, CIA officer Philip Agee, and FBI agents Wes Swearingen and Bill Turner shockingly detail a "secret domestic war" of assassination, imprisonment, and torture as the weapons of repression. Yet, the documentary is not a paean to the Panthers, for while it praises their early courage and moral idealism, it exposes their collapse due to megalomania, corruption, drugs, and narcissism.
• America After Charleston This new PBS town hall meeting, moderated by Gwen Ifill, explores the many issues around race relations that have come to the fore during this tense few months, after a white gunman shot and killed nine African-American parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina, and the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds that followed.
• America After Ferguson This PBS town hall meeting, moderated by PBS NEWSHOUR co-anchor and managing editor Gwen Ifill, explores events following Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri. The program, recorded before an audience on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will include national leaders and prominent thinkers in the areas of law enforcement, race and civil rights, as well as government officials, faith leaders and youth.
• Baltimore Rising - The Struggles of Police and Activists Following the Death of Freddie Gray In the wake of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, Baltimore was a city on the edge. Peaceful protests and destructive riots erupted in the immediate aftermath of Gray's death, reflecting the deep divisions between authorities and the community and underscoring the urgent need for reconciliation. more... less... Directed by Sonja Sohn, one of the stars of the acclaimed HBO series The Wire, BALTIMORE RISING follows activists, police officers, community leaders and gang affiliates who struggle to hold Baltimore together while the city awaits the fate of the six police officers involved in the incident. This inspiring film chronicles the determined efforts of people on all sides who fight for justice and a better city, sometimes coming together in unexpected ways and discovering a common humanity. Thought-provoking and timely, BALTIMORE RISING exposes the strife that gripped Baltimore following Freddie Gray's death, and highlights the city's determination to rise above longstanding fault lines in a distraught and damaged community.
• Context Matters: The Permanence of Racism America to Me focuses on a year at Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRFHS), widely considered to be a safe, well-integrated, academically strong school. In Episode 1, we meet some of its students of color and their families, who have sacrificed to live in this popular district. Their stories begin to reveal the racial cracks and realities of the permanence of racism.
• Leadership Lessons from Black Lives Matter Rinku Sen interviews Patrisse Khan Cullors, Co-founder, Black Lives Matter; Founder and Board Member, Dignity and Power Now.
• Obama Defends Black Lives Matter Movement
• P.S. I Can't Breathe - Black Lives Matter This documentary welcomes dialogue around racial inequality, policing, and the Criminal Justice System by focusing on Eric Garners case. We hope viewers will increase their understanding of issues plaguing Black and Brown Communities by witnessing a massive group of protesters unite for the purpose of justice.
• Show Me Democracy - Student Activism Amidst the Uprising in Ferguson Amidst the uprising in Ferguson, MO, seven St. Louis college students evolve into activists as they demand change through policy and protest. This film examines their personal lives and backgrounds as each of them copes with the fallout of Ferguson. more... less... Six of the students fight for education policy reform through their internship program and try to create more opportunities for low-income and DACA students in their state. One of the seven joins the Black Lives Matter movement and organizes several protests to demonstrate against ongoing racial injustice. Following her on the ground, the camera captures several of her tension-filled protests including a night in Ferguson when the police tear gas protesters. SHOW ME DEMOCRACY asks us to examine how a committed group of college students can make a difference in a complex and imperfect system and what methods have the most impact.
• Whose Streets? An Unflinching Look at the Ferguson Uprising Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, WHOSE STREETS? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of St. Louis, Missouri. Grief, long-standing racial tensions and renewed anger bring residents together to hold vigil and protest this latest tragedy. Empowered parents, artists, and teachers from around the country come together as freedom fighters. more... less... As the National Guard descends on Ferguson with military grade weaponry, these young community members become the torchbearers of a new resistance. Filmmakers Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis know this story because they are the story. WHOSE STREETS? is a powerful battle cry from a generation fighting, not for their civil rights, but for the right to live.

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BLM Articles

• Being Black Helped Me Be Blind and Being Blind Helped Me Understand that #BlackLivesMatter.
• Can You Be BLACK and Make This?
• Thoughts on Black Lives Matter and Bringing our Other Characteristics to the Table.
• Unholy Union: St. Louis Prosecutors and Police Unionize To Maintain Racist State Power
• Where Black Lives Matter Less: Understanding the Impact of Black Victims on Sentencing Outcomes in Texas Capital Murder Cases from 1973 to 2018
• Blue Lives Matter versus Black Lives Matter: Beneficial Social Policies as the Path away from Punitive Rhetoric and Harm
• 'Black Identity Extremist' or Black Dissident?: How United States v. Daniels Illustrates FBI Criminalization of Black Dissent of Law Enforcement, from COINTELPRO to Black Lives Matter
• Black Life Matters United Black Life Matters believe all lives matter. That being said, there are specifically that categorically face the African American community. Issues that can only be addressed if we, the African American people, work together to solve them.
• Black Lives Matter #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.
• Campaign Zero Campaign Zero is an American police reform campaign proposed by activists on a website that was launched on August 21, 2015. The plan consists of ten proposals, all of which are aimed at reducing police violence.
• Color of Change Color Of Change helps you do something real about injustice. We design campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champion solutions that move us all forward. Until justice is real.
• The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) formed in December of 2014, was created as a space for Black organizations across the country to debate and discuss the current political conditions, develop shared assessments of what political interventions were necessary in order to achieve key policy, cultural and political wins, convene organizational leadership in order to debate and co-create a shared movement wide strategy. Under the fundamental idea that we can achieve more together than we can separately.
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10 Stories about Race & Social Justice from 2020

Our 2020 Year in Review series of lists – beginning with “ 10 Pieces of COVID-19 News We All Paid Attention to in 2020 ” and later “ 10 Election Stories That Kept Us Sane in 2020 ” – spotlights Harris news, accomplishments, and perspectives from across our community in a year unlike any other.

2020 brought on a reckoning in the United States and around the globe on the topic of racial justice and the importance of diversity and inclusion to advancing social progress. Here are some of the stories from around the Harris community that we paid attention to:

1. Fighting inequality with the Harris toolkit

When Harin Contractor, MPP’08, started college at the University of Georgia in 2000, he wasn’t politically or policy-inclined – until 9/11 happened, changing his trajectory forever and making him aware of his privilege. Contractor received the 2020 Alumni Award at the Minorities in Public Policy Studies (MiPPS) Alumni Gala this fall.

2. Celebrating Black Action in Public Policy Studies (BAPPS)

Black Action in Public Policy Studies (BAPPS) was founded by four Black women in 2017 because there needed to be more intention in the creation of Black spaces at the Harris School of Public Policy. This is their story.

3. Race, the wealth gap, and income shocks

Using a dataset linking bank account data with voter registration records containing race and ethnicity, Associate Professor Damon Jones , Assistant Professor Peter Ganong , and coauthors were able to examine, with unprecedented levels of specificity , the spending behaviors of households, and to examine how self-reported Black, Hispanic, and white households behave differently when faced with sudden income reductions.

4. Feminism’s racial blind spots

With a goal toward “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” Mikki Kendall turned her signs to feminism’s racial blind spots in Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot , a collection of essays weaving history, social science, and the harsh world around us into stories of Kendall’s own life. Harris Public Policy hosted Kendall for a discussion of Hood Feminism and her extraordinary journey.

5. Black leaders share their stories

Valerie Jarrett and Helene Gayle shared their stories at the Harris Policy Forum in February 2020. We learned of Skyla Hearn (CLA’20) and her journey as an archivist and activist on Chicago’s South Side. And we heard from Nikki Giovanni, who told us, “ you cannot let the world change you .”

6. Fines and fees

Working with Senior Lecturer Paula Worthington , the Center for Justice & Safety Finance at PFM has released an expert study from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy that includes best practices for reforming the policies that dictate criminal justice system fines and fees, which disproportionately affect Black and Latinx communities.

7. Hispanic roots

As a part of Harris Public Policy's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, our HR team sat down with Assistant Professor Austin L. Wright to discuss his Mexican-American community roots , among other faculty and staff. And in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, the Latinx Heritage Month Committee offered, in collaboration with Harris and I-House, the annual ¡Pachanga! , an evening of music performances from influential Chicago artists. Although the year presented many challenges, the organizers remained committed to continue this tradition virtually with evening filled with song, dance, and inspiration.

8. A Human Rights Commissioner in our midst

Barbara Barreno-Paschall, MPP’17 , could have ended her LinkedIn profile headline after the first three words: Human Rights Commissioner. Appointed by Governor JB Pritzker in 2019, she’s among Illinois’ first seven full-time commissioners, a heady role in which she’s tasked with resolving discrimination complaints under the state Human Rights Act.

9. How do our textbooks affect our students?

New research by Harris Assistant Professor Anjali Adukia and Alex Eble , assistant professor at Columbia University's graduate school of education, Teachers College , will explore how messages about gender and race in elementary school textbooks can influence children’s beliefs in their own abilities and their subsequent educational decisions.

10. A renewed commitment to D&I

Katherine Baicker , dean and Emmett Dedmon Professor at Harris Public Policy, announced the release of the Harris D&I Roadmap , the school’s first-ever strategic plan for diversity and inclusion, as well as a new D&I website housing the roadmap, action steps, progress updates, and more. In addition, Michelle Hoereth was also named to the new, leadership-level position as Harris' first Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion.

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Racism and History of Discrimination Essay

Racism and other kinds of discrimination have existed for centuries and still prevail in modern-day society. While many people view racism as a social construct that only exists among ordinary people, it is much more frequent among government authorities and law enforcement agencies, with police brutality being one of the most acute issues. Such an issue is not merely a local or state problem but a federal one, permeating the entire country. As a result, while different policies aim to eradicate racism-caused police brutality, it still exists and causes many deaths.

There are many instances of the given issue that led not just to disabilities but also to deaths. For example, despite a 1993 prohibition on chokeholds by the New York Police Department, policeman Daniel Pantaleo nonetheless fatally choked Eric Garner in 2014 (The Economist, 2020). In one of the latest occurrences, Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis law enforcement officer, knelt on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes on May 25, 2020, causing George Floyd to pass away (Valbuena et al., 2020). As a result, the policy sector this sort of social injustice falls under is criminal justice. According to the United Nations, among the core problems that impact this sector are “racial profiling, harassment, verbal abuse and abuse of power by law enforcement officials” (United Nations, 2022). As a result, advocacy should be aimed at creating new models in criminal justice that will ensure the protection of all minority groups and due process. As has been mentioned by the UN, “racial discrimination in law enforcement and the criminal justice system cannot be separated from systemic racism” (United Nations, 2022). Therefore, such a macro policy intervention should aim at holding those law enforcement officers responsible for the brutality.

Hence, despite efforts to end racism-related police violence, it still occurs and claims many lives. Criminal justice is the area of policy that deals with this kind of social injustice. Racial discrimination, harassment, emotional insults, and the misuse of authority by law enforcement authorities are among the significant issues that have an influence on this industry, according to the United Nations. Therefore, advocacy efforts should focus on developing new criminal justice models that would guarantee the protection of all minority groups and due process. The goal of such a macro-political intervention should be to hold violent law enforcement personnel accountable.

The Economist. (2020). In America protests have already brought policy changes . The Economist. Web.

United Nations. (2022). Addressing and responding to racial discrimination in the criminal justice system . UN. Web.

Valbuena, V., Howard, R., Bonner, S., & Dimick, J. (2020). Let us not be silent . Annals of Surgery , 272 (6), 915-916. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 19). Racism and History of Discrimination. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-and-history-of-discrimination/

"Racism and History of Discrimination." IvyPanda , 19 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/racism-and-history-of-discrimination/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Racism and History of Discrimination'. 19 January.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Racism and History of Discrimination." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-and-history-of-discrimination/.

1. IvyPanda . "Racism and History of Discrimination." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-and-history-of-discrimination/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Racism and History of Discrimination." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-and-history-of-discrimination/.

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