Understanding Institutional Racism (Reaction Paper Sample)

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Institutional Racism
According to (National Association of Social Workers. n.d.), institutional racism is exhibited in social systems and institutions. The educational, socio-economic, political policies and forces act to promote discrimination. Institutional racism is a combination of practices, policies, and procedures integrated into a bureaucratic system that consistently results in unequal treatment for different people.
Government-backed segregation and Systematic Oppression.
Government-backed segregation is the act of separating people in terms of their race (Solomon et al., 2019). Government-backed segregation is seen during the construction of the transcontinental railway and in California gold mines. The Immigrants, especially the Chinese who were there to participate in the construction process, were highly segregated. As the Chinese tried to move to urban centers searching for employment, they faced hostility from the whites. The United States Government stood aside as racists' viciously attacked the Chinese. It was even worse than the state government enacted laws and policies that restricted the Chinese in terms of job opportunities, limited their movement, and sidelined them from taking part in democratic processes such as voting or owning property. The Chinese settled in slums as safe housing options were not available for them. The effect of Government-backed segregation led to inequalities in sharing public space, goods, and resources. Government-backed segregation correlates with systematic oppression. Systematic oppression involved advantaging one group of individuals while disadvantaging the other in terms of their language, race, gender, class, and sexual orientation ("Lens of Systemic Oppression, National Equity Project," n.d.).