Institutional Racism

Acknowledgements
This workbook has been developed by Sandra Hinson, Richard Healey and Nathaniel
Weisenberg at the Grassroots Policy Project. DeAngelo Bester, National People’s
Action and Charlene Sinclair, Union Theological Seminary, also contributed to this
workbook.
We gratefully acknowledge that the Spanish translation of the workbook is by Arturo
Clark at National People’s Action.
In addition, we have included a worksheet developed by Connie Heller, a summary of
targeted universalism, based on the work of john powell, the Kirwan Institute, and an
exercise from Greg Pehrson.
We wish we could more thoroughly acknowledge all the contributions to racial justice
work that are taking place. Suffice it to say this workbook builds upon decades of work
that has been done and that continues to be done by countless organizers and leaders
in the struggles for racial justice. We hope our workshops and approaches will add to
and enrich our collective practices for racial justice.
Please send your questions, suggestions and feedback to
shinson@grassrootspolicy.org.
About the Cover Design
The graphic on the front cover, “Racialization distorts all parts of the system,” illustrates
two of the ideas that we are concerned with. Jobs, housing, education, and criminal
justice are parts of an interconnected system. We often work on “housing” issues or
“education” issues, but as we know, they are in reality all deeply interconnected. Each
part of the system has been distorted and shaped by hundreds of years of racialization,
and this continues to be true today.
The twisted grid lying under the system elements represents the distorting effects of
racialization. It is taken from a work by MC Escher.
Grassroots Policy Project Race, Power and Policy Page 2