preview

Arguments Against Institutional Racism

Decent Essays

Institutional racism is hard to identify because it is “built into the structure of society” (McNamara & Burns, 2009, p.14). Many times people do not realize they are committing this type behavior and think they are treating everybody the same (McNamara & Burns, 2009). A very good example occurred in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in August of 2005. The government thought it was doing the community good when it planned to tear down 5,000 damaged apartments in public housing and replace them with mixed income housing, but what they did displaced large numbers of African-Americans from their homes and the area (Henkel et al, 2006). The good thought was there, but not the results that were drastically needed. Another example …show more content…

The main ways are policies and training. Every organization, public or private, should have a policy on racism and treating everyone the same regardless of their skin color, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, and/or religion. Along with this policy should be training for employees from top to bottom. Employees can’t say they didn’t know about it if they are trained. Becky Tatum, a criminal justice scholar, suggests that organizations “understand that diversity enhances organizational effectiveness; continue practicing and promoting affirmative action policies; be committed to diversity; establish effective recruitment , selection, training, and promotion practices; create effective complaint policies and procedures to ensure that employees are not treated differently; and evaluate progress and the results of policies and procedures” (Mcnamara & Burns, 2009, p. 319-320). For the national route, President Obama could establish a council on racism made up of people from many races and ethnicities. This group should put out information to the public on what institutional racism is and how to prevent and report it. As much as the media loves to put stories out about racism, they should not have any problem hearing from the public about

Get Access