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CHALLENGING RACIALIZED STRUCTURES
AND MOVING TOWARD SOCIAL JUSTICE
                          john a. powell
  Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
  Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law




              CWRU Social Justice Institute: Intergenerational Think Tank
              November 20, 2010
Overview

   Racial Possibilities, Identities
   Structural Racialization, Systems Thinking
   Opportunity and Situatedness
   Mind Sciences
   Moving Forward
     Changing   the way we think, talk, and act on race




                                                           2
The Continuing Relevance of Race
   Why does race continue to play
    such a critical role in determining
    societal outcomes?

   Haven’t we entered a post-racial
    moment with the election of
    Barack Obama?

   While significant, Obama’s
    victory does not erase the
    persistent inequalities that
    hinder the life chances for
    marginalized groups                    3
A Post-Racial Society? (or Not?)
   Black and Latino children are much more likely than white
    children to attend high-poverty schools

   A white man with a criminal record is three times more likely
    than a black man with a record to receive consideration for a
    job

   Minority home-seekers with good credit scores steered to
    high-cost, sub-prime mortgages thus devastating their
    communities in light of the foreclosure crisis
      By prematurely proclaiming a post-racial status, we
     ignore the distance we have yet to travel to make this
        country truly a land of equal opportunity for all,
                  regardless of racial identity.

                                                                4
Possibilities around Race
   President Obama’s election “suggests that a sea change in
    race relations has already occurred”

   However, his “exceptional racial background” and the fact
    he was elected in the midst of national crises indicates “race
    hasn’t been overcome so much as temporarily superseded.”
       These crises could worsen racial resentment

   “race forms a basis for the exploitation and hoarding of
    material, political, and cultural resources; in turn, the same
    processes that facilitate racial stratification continually
    reconstitute race.”
    Source: Lopez, Ian Haney. Post-Racial Racism: Crime Control and Racial Stratification in the Age of Obama   5
Race as Social Space
   We have fluidity in terms of racial identities
      Situations affect who you are, how you identify.
          For example, it may not be until you’re in a room
           with full of people of a different race that you
           become truly aware of your own race.
          The British did not become “white” until Africans
           became “black.”

•   In order to notice race, society has to create this
    category/idea of race. After it is created, individuals can
    negotiate it using the social tools created by society.


                                                               6
Identity: White Identities
       In the past, non-whites sometimes tried to “pass” as whites
        in order to reap the benefits associated with whiteness
           Honorary whites:
            “are extended the status of whiteness despite public recognition
            that, from a bio-racial perspective, they are not fully white.”


       More recently, non-whites have been accused of trying to
        “cover,” meaning they are acting as though they are white



        Source: “Colorblind White Dominance” by Ian Haney López (2006)
                                                                           7
The White Self
Whiteness illuminates everything but itself.




  Whiteness                           Blackness




                                                  8
Racial Inequity
   Although racial attitudes are improving, racial disparities
    persist on every level.
   Inequity arises as disenfranchised groups are left out of the
    democratic process.




                           Source: www.cartoonstock.com
                                                                    9
Membership in a Legitimate Democratic State

                     Membership, the most important
                      good that we distribute to one
                      another in human community
                      (Michael Walzer)
                      ◦   Prior in importance even to freedom
                      ◦   Citizenship, a precondition to
                          freedom
                      ◦   Membership, a precondition to
                          citizenship
                     Distribution of membership
                     Cost to not belong
                                                                10
What does it cost to not belong?
    The cost of membership in a democratic society
      Current         estimate for family of four: $48,778*
              Over   three times as many families fall below family budget
                thresholds as fall below the official poverty line
    How far do you fall (children in extreme poverty,
     skyrocketing bankruptcy rates, family homelessness)?
    Are all neighborhoods are neighborhoods of
     sustainable opportunity?

    Source: James Lin and Jared Bernstein, What we need to get by. October 29, 2008 |
    EPI Briefing Paper #224                                                             11
“The New Jim Crow”
                            by Michelle Alexander
   More African American men are in correctional
    control today than were enslaved in 1850
   “more African American men were
    disenfranchised due to felon disenfranchisement
    laws than in 1870”
   Drug War has had devastating impact and
    contributed to the increase of incarceration
     “From the outset, the war had little to do with drug
      crime and nearly everything to do with racial politics”
     African Americans make up 80-90% of all drug
      offenders in some states
    Source: Michelle Alexander. “The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a
    Permanent American Undercaste.” TomDispatch.com                                       12
Process of Social Stratification:
                  Who gains access to what resources...

                                                                                 Conscious and                          Pattern
                                                                                Unconscious (i.e.                   recognition and
                                                                                  implicit bias)                     generalization
                                          Categorization




                                            Inequality                                                               This may
                                                                                                                   change over
                                                                                                                   time, but the
                    Hoarding and                                 Emulation and                                        whole
                     Exploitation                                 Adaptation
                                                                                                                    structure is
                                                                                                                    highly inert


Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007.           13
The Two Bookends…


Implicit                  Structural
Bias                      Racialization




                                          14
Structural Racialization
   How race works today
     There are still practices, cultural norms and institutional
      arrangements that help create and maintain
      (disparate) racialized outcomes


   Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional
    arrangements and interactions
     Itrefers to the ways in which the joint operation of
      institutions produce racialized outcomes
       In   this analysis, outcomes matter more than intent


                                                                    15
Structural Racialization
                          Context: The Dominant Consensus on Race
                  National values                                         Contemporary culture



               Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics
 Processes that maintain racial hierarchies                  Racialized public policies and institutional
                                                                             practices



                                     Outcomes: Racial Disparities
Racial inequalities in current levels of well-                    Capacity for individual and community
                    being                                             improvement is undermined




                                     Ongoing Racial Inequalities
Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004   16
From a one- dimensional understanding…
                    •   One variable can explain
                        why differential outcomes.




…to a multi-dimensional understanding….
          •   Structural Inequality
              –   Example: a Bird in a cage.
                  Examining one bar cannot
                  explain why a bird cannot fly.
                  But multiple bars, arranged in
                  specific ways, reinforce each
                  other and trap the bird.
                                                     17
...to an understanding of processes and relationships


•   Understanding the
    relationships among
    these multiple
    dimensions, and how
    these complex intra-
    actions change
    processes
    •   Relationships are
        neither static nor
        discrete


                                                                18
Systems Thinking
      We are all situated within “opportunity structures”


                           Physical

          Social                              Cultural


                            Outcomes


These structures interact in ways that produce racialized outcomes for
different groups…
                                                                         19
Opportunity is….

Racialized…                Spatialized…                Globalized…
• In 1960, African-        • marginalized people       • Economic
  American families in       of color and the very
  poverty were 3.8 times                                 globalization
                             poor have been
  more likely to be          spatially isolated from
  concentrated in high-      opportunity via           • Climate change
  poverty neighborhoods      reservations, Jim
  than poor whites.          Crow, Appalachian
                             mountains, ghettos,       • the Credit and
• In 2000, they were 7.3     barrios, and the            Foreclosure crisis
  times more likely.         culture of
                             incarceration.




                                                                              20
A Tale of Two Neighborhoods…
             Low Opportunity                       High Opportunity
•   Less than 25% of students in         •   The year my step daughter
    Detroit finish high school               finished high school, 100% of the
                                             students graduated and 100%
•   More than 60% of the men will            went to college
    spend time in jail
                                         •   Most will not even drive by a jail
•   There may soon be no bus service
    in some areas                        •   Free bus service
•   It is difficult to attract jobs or   •   Relatively easy to attract capital
    private capital
                                         •   Very safe; great parks
•   Not safe; very few parks
                                         •   Easy to get fresh food
•   Difficult to get fresh food
                                                                             21
Which community would you choose?




                                    22
Opportunity pathways vary…

    How can we be sensitive to inter-
     and intra-group differences?

    How do the ladders or pathways
     of opportunities differ for
     different people?

    Every institution has built in
     assumptions, i.e. “stairways” are
     a pathway – but not for people
     in wheelchairs, baby strollers.

                                         23
The highly uneven
  Geography of Opportunity…




…Some people ride the     …Others have to run up
“Up” escalator to reach   the “Down” escalator to
     opportunity                 get there

                                                    24
People are “differentially situated”
Not only are                             People are
people situated                          impacted by the
differently with                         relationships
regard to                                between
institutions,                            institutions and
people are                               systems…
situated
differently with                         …but people
regard to                                also impact these
infrastructure                           relationships and
                                         can change the
                                         structure of the
                                         system.




                                                            25
Understanding “Situatedness”
 We   come from different places. Illuminating people’s
  different and shared experiences of oppression
  encourages collective action with others whose
  experiences may be slightly different.
 Young’s 5 Faces of Oppression: Different
  groups/people experience one or more of these faces
  throughout their lives
        Exploitation
        Marginalization
        Powerlessness
        Cultural Dominance
        Violence


Source: Grassroots Policy Project. “Faces of Oppression.” http://www.grassrootspolicy.org/node/85   26
The Cumulative Effects of Racial and
              Opportunity Segregation
                Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities
                                 Impacts on Health
                                          School Segregation
                                                 Impacts on Educational Achievement
                                                     Exposure to crime; arrest
                                                          Transportation limitations and other
                                                          inequitable public services
Neighborhood                                              Job segregation
 Segregation
                                                         Racial stigma, other psychological
                                                         impacts
                                                    Impacts on community power and
                                                    individual assets

  Source: Barbara Reskin (http://faculty.washington.edu/reskin/)                                 27
The Cumulative Effects of Racial and
            Opportunity Segregation
   Zoning laws prevent affordable housing
    development in many suburbs
   Municipalities subsidize the relocation of businesses
    out of the city
   Transportation spending favors highways,
    metropolitan expansion and urban sprawl
   Court decisions prevent metropolitan school
    desegregation
   School funding is tied to property taxes
                                                            28
The Arrangement of Structures
   How we arrange structures matters
     The order of the structures
     The timing of the interaction between them

     The relationships that exist between them




     We  must be aware of how structures are arranged in
      order to fully understand social phenomena
                                                            29
Spatial Racism and Inequality
   The government plays a central role in the
    arrangement of space and opportunities
   These arrangements are not “neutral” or “natural” or
    “colorblind”
   Social and racial inequities are geographically
    inscribed
   There is a polarization between the rich and the
    poor that is directly related to the areas in which
    they live

                                                           30
Policies and Structures
   Racialized policies and structures:
     Promoted  sprawl
     Concentrated subsidized housing

     Led to disparities between schools
       Achievement     gap
       Discipline   rates
       Funding   disparities
       Economic     segregation
       Graduation     rates
       Racial   segregation
                                           31
Who’s to blame?




Photo source: (Madoff) AP                     32
Today,
Institutions and structures
continue to support, not
dismantle, the status quo.
This is why we continue to
see racially inequitable
outcomes even if there is
good intent behind policies,
or an absence of racist
actors. (i.e. structural
racialization)
                               33
Historic Government Role
   A series of mutually reinforcing federal policies
    across multiple domains have contributed to the
    disparities we see today
     School Desegregation
     Homeownership/Suburbanization

     Urban Renewal

     Public Housing

     Transportation




                                                        34
Mind Science




               35
Implicit Bias
        Only 2% of emotional
         cognition is available to us
         consciously

        Racial bias tends to reside in
         the unconscious network

        Messages can be framed to
         speak to our unconscious



                                          36
The Location of Implicit Racism
 Racialattitudes operate in our “unconscious” (also
 called “subconscious”) mind

 Usuallyinvisible to us but significantly influences our
 positions on critical issues

 Negative  unconscious attitudes about race are called
 “implicit bias” or “symbolic racism.”



                                                            37
Framing


               How
          messages are
             framed
           affects how
            they are
           perceived.




                     38
Implicit Association Tests




    Racialized outcomes do
    not require racist actors.
                                 39
Implicit Bias Against Nonwhites is Pervasive.


                          Distributions of Responses on Explicit
                           (Self-reported) and Implicit Measures

        Groups                               Explicit                        Implicit
       Compared
                               Nonwhite            Neutral   White   Nonwhite Neutral   White
    Blacks/Whites                  12%              56%      32%       12%      19%     69%

    Asians/Whites                  16%              57%      27%       11%      26%     63%

    Note: Percentages represent the percent biased in favor of group.




Source: 94 California Law Review (2006), p. 957.                                                40
The Shooter Video Game




                         41
Where is this family sitting?




                                42
Where is this family sitting?




When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa - a culture containing
few angular visual cues - the family is seen sitting under a tree. The woman is
balancing an item on her head.

Westerners are accustomed to the corners and box-like shapes of architecture. They
are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the
woman's head as a window through which shrubbery can be seen.                        43
Social Categories and Meanings
   Race is a social reality.

   While we are hardwired to categorize in-group
    vs. out-group, we are “softwired” for the content
    of those categories.

   Softwiring is social.

   Racial categories and meaning
    can be constantly be reconfigured.

                                                        44
Social Cognition
                             Warmth and Competence
             High

                                           Pitied                                                         Esteemed
                                         Out-Group                                                        In-Group


 Warmth

                                             Despised                                                      Envied
                                            Out-Group                                                     Out-Group
              Low


                              Low                                                                                     High
                                                           Competence
Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007.   45
Social Cognition: Warmth and Competence
              High

                                       Pity :                                                            Esteemed:
                                   women, elderly,                                                    Your own group,
                                     disabled                                                         who you identify
                                                                                                            with

  Warmth

                                       Despised:                                                            Envied:
                                  African Americans,                                                    Competent, but
                                   Undocumented                                                         don’t really like
                                      immigrants                                                         them: Asians
               Low

                              Low                                                                                     High
                                                           Competence
Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007.   46
Persistent Prejudices
   Unconscious biases are reflected in institutional
    arrangements.


   Prejudice leads to outcomes, and the outcomes reinforce
    the stereotypes / prejudice.




       Ex: Females aren’t good at math.
            Many females don’t take math classes.
                                                              47
Priming & Stereotype Threat
   Our environment affects our unconscious networks

   Priming activates mental associations
     Telling      someone a scary story activates a frame of fear


   Claude Steele’s “stereotype threat”:
     For example, tell students about to take a test that Asian
      students tend to do better than whites, and the whites will
      perform significantly worse than if they had not been
      primed to think of themselves as less capable than Asians.
    Source: http://www.eaop.ucla.edu/0405/Ed185%20-Spring05/Week_6_May9_2005.pdf   48
Priming
       Experiment with 7th graders; ~50% white & 50% Black
             Given a list of values
               Experimental group: Choose the values that are most important to
                you and write why they are important
               Control group: Choose the values that are the least important to
                you and explain why
             End of semester – While Black students still did not do as
              well as whites, the Black students in the experimental group
              showed a 40% reduction in the racial achievement gap.

       Experiment was repeated with a group of college
        students and yielded a 50% reduction in the racial
        achievement gap.

Source: Cohen, Geoffrey L.., Julio Garcia, Nancy Apfel, and Allison Master. (2006). “Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A
Social-Psychological Intervention.” Science 313(5791): 1307-1310,                                                             49
How to Change Our Implicit Biases
   Be aware of implicit bias in your life. We are
    constantly being primed.

   Debias by presenting positive alternatives.

   Consider your conscious messaging & language.
     Affirmativeaction support varies based on whether it’s
      presented as “assistance” or “preference.”

   Engage in proactive affirmative efforts – not only on
    the cultural level but also the structural level.
                                                               50
51   Renewing our Communities
     Growing opportunity for all
Conditions for Change
   Moving from a transactional to a transformational
    paradigm requires structural change:
     Institutions
                 should allow for participation and dissent of
      individuals in a democratic society.
     For those in poverty, this participation is denied as they
      lack access to power, influence, and choice; thus, poverty is
      maintained.
   Structures act as filters, creating cumulative barriers to
    opportunity.
     Reorganization  of institutions to encourage the “emergence
      of differences” is one example of transformative thinking.
                                                                      52
“Situatedness” and Interests

   Our interests are               Solutions?
    “situational”                       Transactional: “Discovering”
                                         common interests
   Not all tensions are                      But this operates within the
    personal, some are                         current structure, may limit
    structural                                 our choices

   Targeted Universalism             Transformational:
     We  may have common                “Creating” common
      goals, but because we              interests
      are differently situated                This changes our
      we may be in sharp                       situatedness, in turn
      contrast.                                changes our interests and
                                               ultimately the structure
                                                                          53
Strategies for Growing Together

 Think in new ways
 Talk in new ways

 Act in new ways




                                      54
Transformative Thinking
   Transformative thinking to combat structural
    racialization; we need to find new approaches.

   Personal and social responsibility are important: we
    should maintain them in our advocacy and analysis

   Approaches should consider the structures and
    systems that are creating and perpetuating these
    disparities and work to reform them for lasting
    change.
     Challenging   policies, processes, and assumptions

                                                           55
How to Talk about Race

   Focus on structures and systems rather than explicit
    individual action/reaction

   Focus on the subconscious—the implicit bias that is
    stored within the mind

   Focus on relationships—build collaborations and
    engage in real discussion


                                                           56
Language Matters
   Using “minority” to refer to people of color is
    outdated and tends to carry a subordinate
    connotation.
   Whites are projected to no longer be a statistical
    majority by 2042.

      ○   Context: Numeric or Sociological?

      ○   We already have “minority-majority” cities, states


                                                               57
Talk about race can reinforce our
 conscious beliefs or challenge our
           implicit biases




                                      58
Targeted universalism as
         communication strategy

   Moves beyond the disparities frame

   Focuses on the universal goals shared by all the
    communities while being sensitive to the targeted
    strategies that are responsive to the situation of
    marginalized communities




                                                         59
Promote Universal Policies in Targeted Ways

 There is no “one size fits all”
  One vision, many paths

  Process: What is the goal?

  How do we tailor
   strategies to different
   groups, who are
   differently situated, to lift
   them to that goal.


                                          60
Strategies for Connecting to Opportunity




                                           61
Reframing as a Strategy
    Portland, OR.
          Chasm between social justice
           advocacy organizations and the
           planning community. Recent
           dialogue changed the frame from
           “disparities” to a “universal but
           targeted” frame that moved all
           groups closer to the target.
          Outcome: Advocacy organizations
           are now involved in the planning
           process to develop Metro's
           regional plan that will shape
           investment and development over
           the next 50 years.
Source: Metro Regional Government. “Making the Greatest Place.” Brochure.August 2009.   62
Reframing Cont’d

   Cleveland, OH.
       Inner suburbs afraid would
        lose resources to the city, but
        city recognized that they
        needed to work with the
        suburbs. Reframed from fight
        over current resources, to
        future distribution.
       Outcome: No current resources
        would be redistributed
        between city and suburbs, but
        future development would be
        shared more equitably.
                                             63
Strategy: Changing the Situatedness
   SEIU Union in LA. and undocumented immigrant
    organizing
     Black tensions with Latinos in unions
     Union concerned that not including undocumented workers in
      union would decrease its effectiveness.
     When union included undocumented immigrants into its
      ranks, this changed the structure of tensions among these
      different groups
           No longer Blacks against Latinos, etc.
       Outcome: “Silent structure” that had been operating was
        revealed—the real beneficiary from tensions among
        workers were corporations.
           Workers’ situations were changed, interests were changed,
            structure was changed.

                                                                        64
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Challenging Racialized Structures and Moving Toward Social Justice

  • 1. CHALLENGING RACIALIZED STRUCTURES AND MOVING TOWARD SOCIAL JUSTICE john a. powell Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law CWRU Social Justice Institute: Intergenerational Think Tank November 20, 2010
  • 2. Overview  Racial Possibilities, Identities  Structural Racialization, Systems Thinking  Opportunity and Situatedness  Mind Sciences  Moving Forward  Changing the way we think, talk, and act on race 2
  • 3. The Continuing Relevance of Race  Why does race continue to play such a critical role in determining societal outcomes?  Haven’t we entered a post-racial moment with the election of Barack Obama?  While significant, Obama’s victory does not erase the persistent inequalities that hinder the life chances for marginalized groups 3
  • 4. A Post-Racial Society? (or Not?)  Black and Latino children are much more likely than white children to attend high-poverty schools  A white man with a criminal record is three times more likely than a black man with a record to receive consideration for a job  Minority home-seekers with good credit scores steered to high-cost, sub-prime mortgages thus devastating their communities in light of the foreclosure crisis By prematurely proclaiming a post-racial status, we ignore the distance we have yet to travel to make this country truly a land of equal opportunity for all, regardless of racial identity. 4
  • 5. Possibilities around Race  President Obama’s election “suggests that a sea change in race relations has already occurred”  However, his “exceptional racial background” and the fact he was elected in the midst of national crises indicates “race hasn’t been overcome so much as temporarily superseded.”  These crises could worsen racial resentment  “race forms a basis for the exploitation and hoarding of material, political, and cultural resources; in turn, the same processes that facilitate racial stratification continually reconstitute race.” Source: Lopez, Ian Haney. Post-Racial Racism: Crime Control and Racial Stratification in the Age of Obama 5
  • 6. Race as Social Space  We have fluidity in terms of racial identities  Situations affect who you are, how you identify.  For example, it may not be until you’re in a room with full of people of a different race that you become truly aware of your own race.  The British did not become “white” until Africans became “black.” • In order to notice race, society has to create this category/idea of race. After it is created, individuals can negotiate it using the social tools created by society. 6
  • 7. Identity: White Identities  In the past, non-whites sometimes tried to “pass” as whites in order to reap the benefits associated with whiteness  Honorary whites: “are extended the status of whiteness despite public recognition that, from a bio-racial perspective, they are not fully white.”  More recently, non-whites have been accused of trying to “cover,” meaning they are acting as though they are white Source: “Colorblind White Dominance” by Ian Haney López (2006) 7
  • 8. The White Self Whiteness illuminates everything but itself. Whiteness Blackness 8
  • 9. Racial Inequity  Although racial attitudes are improving, racial disparities persist on every level.  Inequity arises as disenfranchised groups are left out of the democratic process. Source: www.cartoonstock.com 9
  • 10. Membership in a Legitimate Democratic State  Membership, the most important good that we distribute to one another in human community (Michael Walzer) ◦ Prior in importance even to freedom ◦ Citizenship, a precondition to freedom ◦ Membership, a precondition to citizenship  Distribution of membership  Cost to not belong 10
  • 11. What does it cost to not belong?  The cost of membership in a democratic society  Current estimate for family of four: $48,778*  Over three times as many families fall below family budget thresholds as fall below the official poverty line  How far do you fall (children in extreme poverty, skyrocketing bankruptcy rates, family homelessness)?  Are all neighborhoods are neighborhoods of sustainable opportunity? Source: James Lin and Jared Bernstein, What we need to get by. October 29, 2008 | EPI Briefing Paper #224 11
  • 12. “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander  More African American men are in correctional control today than were enslaved in 1850  “more African American men were disenfranchised due to felon disenfranchisement laws than in 1870”  Drug War has had devastating impact and contributed to the increase of incarceration  “From the outset, the war had little to do with drug crime and nearly everything to do with racial politics”  African Americans make up 80-90% of all drug offenders in some states Source: Michelle Alexander. “The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste.” TomDispatch.com 12
  • 13. Process of Social Stratification: Who gains access to what resources... Conscious and Pattern Unconscious (i.e. recognition and implicit bias) generalization Categorization Inequality This may change over time, but the Hoarding and Emulation and whole Exploitation Adaptation structure is highly inert Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007. 13
  • 14. The Two Bookends… Implicit Structural Bias Racialization 14
  • 15. Structural Racialization  How race works today  There are still practices, cultural norms and institutional arrangements that help create and maintain (disparate) racialized outcomes  Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional arrangements and interactions  Itrefers to the ways in which the joint operation of institutions produce racialized outcomes  In this analysis, outcomes matter more than intent 15
  • 16. Structural Racialization Context: The Dominant Consensus on Race National values Contemporary culture Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics Processes that maintain racial hierarchies Racialized public policies and institutional practices Outcomes: Racial Disparities Racial inequalities in current levels of well- Capacity for individual and community being improvement is undermined Ongoing Racial Inequalities Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004 16
  • 17. From a one- dimensional understanding… • One variable can explain why differential outcomes. …to a multi-dimensional understanding…. • Structural Inequality – Example: a Bird in a cage. Examining one bar cannot explain why a bird cannot fly. But multiple bars, arranged in specific ways, reinforce each other and trap the bird. 17
  • 18. ...to an understanding of processes and relationships • Understanding the relationships among these multiple dimensions, and how these complex intra- actions change processes • Relationships are neither static nor discrete 18
  • 19. Systems Thinking We are all situated within “opportunity structures” Physical Social Cultural Outcomes These structures interact in ways that produce racialized outcomes for different groups… 19
  • 20. Opportunity is…. Racialized… Spatialized… Globalized… • In 1960, African- • marginalized people • Economic American families in of color and the very poverty were 3.8 times globalization poor have been more likely to be spatially isolated from concentrated in high- opportunity via • Climate change poverty neighborhoods reservations, Jim than poor whites. Crow, Appalachian mountains, ghettos, • the Credit and • In 2000, they were 7.3 barrios, and the Foreclosure crisis times more likely. culture of incarceration. 20
  • 21. A Tale of Two Neighborhoods… Low Opportunity High Opportunity • Less than 25% of students in • The year my step daughter Detroit finish high school finished high school, 100% of the students graduated and 100% • More than 60% of the men will went to college spend time in jail • Most will not even drive by a jail • There may soon be no bus service in some areas • Free bus service • It is difficult to attract jobs or • Relatively easy to attract capital private capital • Very safe; great parks • Not safe; very few parks • Easy to get fresh food • Difficult to get fresh food 21
  • 22. Which community would you choose? 22
  • 23. Opportunity pathways vary…  How can we be sensitive to inter- and intra-group differences?  How do the ladders or pathways of opportunities differ for different people?  Every institution has built in assumptions, i.e. “stairways” are a pathway – but not for people in wheelchairs, baby strollers. 23
  • 24. The highly uneven Geography of Opportunity… …Some people ride the …Others have to run up “Up” escalator to reach the “Down” escalator to opportunity get there 24
  • 25. People are “differentially situated” Not only are People are people situated impacted by the differently with relationships regard to between institutions, institutions and people are systems… situated differently with …but people regard to also impact these infrastructure relationships and can change the structure of the system. 25
  • 26. Understanding “Situatedness”  We come from different places. Illuminating people’s different and shared experiences of oppression encourages collective action with others whose experiences may be slightly different.  Young’s 5 Faces of Oppression: Different groups/people experience one or more of these faces throughout their lives  Exploitation  Marginalization  Powerlessness  Cultural Dominance  Violence Source: Grassroots Policy Project. “Faces of Oppression.” http://www.grassrootspolicy.org/node/85 26
  • 27. The Cumulative Effects of Racial and Opportunity Segregation Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities Impacts on Health School Segregation Impacts on Educational Achievement Exposure to crime; arrest Transportation limitations and other inequitable public services Neighborhood Job segregation Segregation Racial stigma, other psychological impacts Impacts on community power and individual assets Source: Barbara Reskin (http://faculty.washington.edu/reskin/) 27
  • 28. The Cumulative Effects of Racial and Opportunity Segregation  Zoning laws prevent affordable housing development in many suburbs  Municipalities subsidize the relocation of businesses out of the city  Transportation spending favors highways, metropolitan expansion and urban sprawl  Court decisions prevent metropolitan school desegregation  School funding is tied to property taxes 28
  • 29. The Arrangement of Structures  How we arrange structures matters  The order of the structures  The timing of the interaction between them  The relationships that exist between them  We must be aware of how structures are arranged in order to fully understand social phenomena 29
  • 30. Spatial Racism and Inequality  The government plays a central role in the arrangement of space and opportunities  These arrangements are not “neutral” or “natural” or “colorblind”  Social and racial inequities are geographically inscribed  There is a polarization between the rich and the poor that is directly related to the areas in which they live 30
  • 31. Policies and Structures  Racialized policies and structures:  Promoted sprawl  Concentrated subsidized housing  Led to disparities between schools  Achievement gap  Discipline rates  Funding disparities  Economic segregation  Graduation rates  Racial segregation 31
  • 32. Who’s to blame? Photo source: (Madoff) AP 32
  • 33. Today, Institutions and structures continue to support, not dismantle, the status quo. This is why we continue to see racially inequitable outcomes even if there is good intent behind policies, or an absence of racist actors. (i.e. structural racialization) 33
  • 34. Historic Government Role  A series of mutually reinforcing federal policies across multiple domains have contributed to the disparities we see today  School Desegregation  Homeownership/Suburbanization  Urban Renewal  Public Housing  Transportation 34
  • 36. Implicit Bias  Only 2% of emotional cognition is available to us consciously  Racial bias tends to reside in the unconscious network  Messages can be framed to speak to our unconscious 36
  • 37. The Location of Implicit Racism  Racialattitudes operate in our “unconscious” (also called “subconscious”) mind  Usuallyinvisible to us but significantly influences our positions on critical issues  Negative unconscious attitudes about race are called “implicit bias” or “symbolic racism.” 37
  • 38. Framing How messages are framed affects how they are perceived. 38
  • 39. Implicit Association Tests Racialized outcomes do not require racist actors. 39
  • 40. Implicit Bias Against Nonwhites is Pervasive. Distributions of Responses on Explicit (Self-reported) and Implicit Measures Groups Explicit Implicit Compared Nonwhite Neutral White Nonwhite Neutral White Blacks/Whites 12% 56% 32% 12% 19% 69% Asians/Whites 16% 57% 27% 11% 26% 63% Note: Percentages represent the percent biased in favor of group. Source: 94 California Law Review (2006), p. 957. 40
  • 41. The Shooter Video Game 41
  • 42. Where is this family sitting? 42
  • 43. Where is this family sitting? When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa - a culture containing few angular visual cues - the family is seen sitting under a tree. The woman is balancing an item on her head. Westerners are accustomed to the corners and box-like shapes of architecture. They are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the woman's head as a window through which shrubbery can be seen. 43
  • 44. Social Categories and Meanings  Race is a social reality.  While we are hardwired to categorize in-group vs. out-group, we are “softwired” for the content of those categories.  Softwiring is social.  Racial categories and meaning can be constantly be reconfigured. 44
  • 45. Social Cognition Warmth and Competence High Pitied Esteemed Out-Group In-Group Warmth Despised Envied Out-Group Out-Group Low Low High Competence Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007. 45
  • 46. Social Cognition: Warmth and Competence High Pity : Esteemed: women, elderly, Your own group, disabled who you identify with Warmth Despised: Envied: African Americans, Competent, but Undocumented don’t really like immigrants them: Asians Low Low High Competence Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007. 46
  • 47. Persistent Prejudices  Unconscious biases are reflected in institutional arrangements.  Prejudice leads to outcomes, and the outcomes reinforce the stereotypes / prejudice.  Ex: Females aren’t good at math. Many females don’t take math classes. 47
  • 48. Priming & Stereotype Threat  Our environment affects our unconscious networks  Priming activates mental associations  Telling someone a scary story activates a frame of fear  Claude Steele’s “stereotype threat”:  For example, tell students about to take a test that Asian students tend to do better than whites, and the whites will perform significantly worse than if they had not been primed to think of themselves as less capable than Asians. Source: http://www.eaop.ucla.edu/0405/Ed185%20-Spring05/Week_6_May9_2005.pdf 48
  • 49. Priming  Experiment with 7th graders; ~50% white & 50% Black  Given a list of values  Experimental group: Choose the values that are most important to you and write why they are important  Control group: Choose the values that are the least important to you and explain why  End of semester – While Black students still did not do as well as whites, the Black students in the experimental group showed a 40% reduction in the racial achievement gap.  Experiment was repeated with a group of college students and yielded a 50% reduction in the racial achievement gap. Source: Cohen, Geoffrey L.., Julio Garcia, Nancy Apfel, and Allison Master. (2006). “Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological Intervention.” Science 313(5791): 1307-1310, 49
  • 50. How to Change Our Implicit Biases  Be aware of implicit bias in your life. We are constantly being primed.  Debias by presenting positive alternatives.  Consider your conscious messaging & language.  Affirmativeaction support varies based on whether it’s presented as “assistance” or “preference.”  Engage in proactive affirmative efforts – not only on the cultural level but also the structural level. 50
  • 51. 51 Renewing our Communities Growing opportunity for all
  • 52. Conditions for Change  Moving from a transactional to a transformational paradigm requires structural change:  Institutions should allow for participation and dissent of individuals in a democratic society.  For those in poverty, this participation is denied as they lack access to power, influence, and choice; thus, poverty is maintained.  Structures act as filters, creating cumulative barriers to opportunity.  Reorganization of institutions to encourage the “emergence of differences” is one example of transformative thinking. 52
  • 53. “Situatedness” and Interests  Our interests are  Solutions? “situational”  Transactional: “Discovering” common interests  Not all tensions are  But this operates within the personal, some are current structure, may limit structural our choices  Targeted Universalism  Transformational:  We may have common “Creating” common goals, but because we interests are differently situated  This changes our we may be in sharp situatedness, in turn contrast. changes our interests and ultimately the structure 53
  • 54. Strategies for Growing Together  Think in new ways  Talk in new ways  Act in new ways 54
  • 55. Transformative Thinking  Transformative thinking to combat structural racialization; we need to find new approaches.  Personal and social responsibility are important: we should maintain them in our advocacy and analysis  Approaches should consider the structures and systems that are creating and perpetuating these disparities and work to reform them for lasting change.  Challenging policies, processes, and assumptions 55
  • 56. How to Talk about Race  Focus on structures and systems rather than explicit individual action/reaction  Focus on the subconscious—the implicit bias that is stored within the mind  Focus on relationships—build collaborations and engage in real discussion 56
  • 57. Language Matters  Using “minority” to refer to people of color is outdated and tends to carry a subordinate connotation.  Whites are projected to no longer be a statistical majority by 2042. ○ Context: Numeric or Sociological? ○ We already have “minority-majority” cities, states 57
  • 58. Talk about race can reinforce our conscious beliefs or challenge our implicit biases 58
  • 59. Targeted universalism as communication strategy  Moves beyond the disparities frame  Focuses on the universal goals shared by all the communities while being sensitive to the targeted strategies that are responsive to the situation of marginalized communities 59
  • 60. Promote Universal Policies in Targeted Ways There is no “one size fits all”  One vision, many paths  Process: What is the goal?  How do we tailor strategies to different groups, who are differently situated, to lift them to that goal. 60
  • 61. Strategies for Connecting to Opportunity 61
  • 62. Reframing as a Strategy  Portland, OR.  Chasm between social justice advocacy organizations and the planning community. Recent dialogue changed the frame from “disparities” to a “universal but targeted” frame that moved all groups closer to the target.  Outcome: Advocacy organizations are now involved in the planning process to develop Metro's regional plan that will shape investment and development over the next 50 years. Source: Metro Regional Government. “Making the Greatest Place.” Brochure.August 2009. 62
  • 63. Reframing Cont’d  Cleveland, OH.  Inner suburbs afraid would lose resources to the city, but city recognized that they needed to work with the suburbs. Reframed from fight over current resources, to future distribution.  Outcome: No current resources would be redistributed between city and suburbs, but future development would be shared more equitably. 63
  • 64. Strategy: Changing the Situatedness  SEIU Union in LA. and undocumented immigrant organizing  Black tensions with Latinos in unions  Union concerned that not including undocumented workers in union would decrease its effectiveness.  When union included undocumented immigrants into its ranks, this changed the structure of tensions among these different groups  No longer Blacks against Latinos, etc.  Outcome: “Silent structure” that had been operating was revealed—the real beneficiary from tensions among workers were corporations.  Workers’ situations were changed, interests were changed, structure was changed. 64
  • 65. www.KirwanInstitute.org www.race-talk.org KirwanInstitute on: