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Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is the concept that racism isn't practiced by specific people but is a phenomenon that is systematic. In A Raisin in the Sun, by Loraine Hansberry, there are specific instances of institutional racism. The specific example I want to talk about is when Lindner is talking to the Younger family. Lindner is the chairman of the New Neighbors Orientation Committee. This is basically a welcoming committee to the neighborhood. Lindner says that the neighborhood agrees that "Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities" (Hansberry 118). This is an example of institutional racism because it wasn't only some people in the community who felt this way about the Younger family. It was the whole neighborhood and they systematically tried to get them out of their neighborhood by using Lindner to chase them out. I find that this is terrible and wrong. As an Asian-American I face some discrimination but I couldn't imagine being African-American back in this time period. Living in Troy, allows for a lot of cultural understanding and a diverse community with not as much racism as most other communities. The best example of institutional racism I can find from my personal experiences is when I was younger I went to the park with my Caucasian friend. We went to the playground and a girl much younger than me was looking at me and yelled from the play structure. She said "go back to your country" which confused me. She didn't say this to my friend so I wondered why I was singled out. I was born in America and I am American. Eventually I realized because I had Asian heritage she treated me differently. Since this girl was so young, was she inheritly racist, is it because of her upbringing, or because of institutional racism?

Comments

  1. Sawyer DarishDecember 8, 2019 at 4:25 PM

    I really liked how you were able to relate this topic back to your own experiences to really show how real and prevalent it is in society. Also I like how you said that even in a city like Troy, institutional racism is inevitable and everywhere.

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  2. Alankar ShendeDecember 8, 2019 at 6:44 PM

    I like how you related racism to your own experience. Regarding your closing question, I believe in her case, it was her upbringing which caused her to act that way. However, to a larger extent in society, I believe racism is a side effect from the natural human tendency for a societal hierarchy. This is not to say we are inherently racist, but because we want to get to the top of the hierarchy, we may use racial differences as a method of doing so.

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