Institutional Racism

Activity: Unequal Opportunity Race:
15-20 Minutes
Note to Facilitators: If you have less time, or a less diverse group, you can use this short
video from the African American Policy Forum about the structural disadvantages that
people of color inherit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBb5TgOXgNY
Here are some of additional discussions and activities that help illustrate the interactions
of different forms of racism.
Activity: Interpersonal and Structural Racism
20 minutes
In groups of two, discuss examples of interpersonal racism you have encountered or
heard of recently (or refer to the examples you shared in the opening activity). Then
discuss how racialization may have set the stage or contribution to the incident. For
example, cities are racialized spatially. Police officers, whether Black or white or Latino,
are likely to focus on certain areas of a city, and to profile young people who fit certain
stereotypes.
Activity: Structural Racism and Education
45 minutes
Where does racialization show up in our kids’ lives? Where does it show up in their
schools, their neighborhoods, their experiences, and the stories they hear about the
police, about education and job opportunities, about what is possible for their lives?
Debrief: the implication for education is that, yes, we have to fight for better education
for our kids. But we also have to struggle around all the ways in which racialization
shapes their lives — education, housing, health care, and jobs are all interconnected, all
part of a larger system, each aspect of which is racialized.
Grassroots Policy Project Race, Power and Policy Page 17