5 Examples of Institutional Racism in the United States

Enslavement in the U.S.

Arguably no episode in U.S. history has left a greater imprint on race relations than slavery. Before the legislation was enacted to end slavery, enslaved people across the world fought for freedom by organizing rebellions, and their descendants fought against attempts to perpetuate racism during the civil rights movement.

Even once such legislation was passed, it didn't mark the end of slavery. In Texas, Black people remained in bondage two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The holiday Juneteenth was established to celebrate the abolition of slavery in Texas, and it is now considered to be a day for celebrating the emancipation of all enslaved people.

Racism in Medicine

Racial bias has influenced U.S. health care in the past and continues to do so today, creating disparities among different racial groups. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Black veterans were denied disability pension by the Union Army. In the 1930s, the Tuskegee Institute conducted a syphilis study on 600 Black men (399 men with syphilis, 201 who did not have it), without the patients' informed consent and without providing adequate treatment for their disease.

Not all instances of institutional racism in medicine and health care are so clearly defined, however. Many times, patients are unfairly profiled and denied health care or drugs. Monique Tello, M.D., MPH, a contributing editor to the Harvard Health Blog, wrote about a patient being denied pain medicine in an emergency room who believed her race caused such poor treatment. Tello noted the woman was probably right​ and pointed out, "it is well-established that Blacks and other minority groups in the U.S. experience more illness, worse outcomes, and premature death compared with whites."

Tello notes that there are numerous articles addressing racism in medicine, and they suggest similar action to fight racism:

"We all need to recognize, name, and understand these attitudes and actions. We need to be open to identifying and controlling our own implicit biases. We need to be able to manage overt bigotry safely, learn from it, and educate others. These themes need to be a part of medical education, as well as institutional policy. We need to practice and model tolerance, respect, open-mindedness, and peace for each other."

Race and World War II

World War II marked both racial advancements and setbacks in the United States. On the one hand, it gave underrepresented groups such as Black people, Asian people, and Native American people the opportunity to show they had the skill and intellect necessary to excel in the military. On the other hand, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor led the federal government to evacuate Japanese Americans from the West Coast and force them into internment camps for fear that they were still loyal to the Japanese empire.

Years later, the U.S. government issued a formal apology for its treatment of Japanese Americans. Not one Japanese American was found to have engaged in espionage during World War II.

In July 1943, Vice President Henry Wallace spoke to a crowd of union workers and civic groups, aligning with what came to be known as the Double V campaign. Launched by the Pittsburgh Courier in 1942, the Double Victory campaign served as a rallying cry for Black journalists, activists, and citizens to secure victories not only over fascism abroad in the war but also over racism at home.

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The Definition of Institutional Racism

By Tom Head

Racial Profiling

Racial profiling has become an everyday occurrence, and it impacts more than just the people involved. A 2018 CNN article uncovered three instances of racial profiling resulting in police being called on Black women who were purportedly playing golf too slowly, two Native American students who allegedly made a mother and her children nervous, and a Black student who was napping in a dorm at Yale.

Darren Martin, who worked in the White House under President Barack Obama, said in the article that racial profiling is "almost second nature now." Martin recounted when a neighbor called the police on him as he tried to move into his own apartment and how often, when leaving a store, he's asked to show what's in his pockets—something he said is dehumanizing.

Moreover, states such as Arizona have faced criticism and boycotts for attempting to pass immigration legislation that civil rights activists say has led to racial profiling of Latinx people.

Racial Profiling in Policing

In 2016, Stanford News reported that researchers had analyzed data from 4.5 million traffic stops in 100 North Carolina cities. Their findings showed that police were "more likely to search Black and Latinx motorists, using a lower threshold of suspicion, than when they stop white or Asian drivers." Despite the increased instances of searches, the data also showed that police were less likely to uncover illegal drugs or weapons than with searches of White or Asian drivers.

Similar studies are being conducted in other states to reveal more patterns, and the team is looking to apply these statistical methods to other settings, like employment and banking, to see if there are patterns related to race.

Racial Profiling in Education

In a 2018 article, Carl Takei, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, noted:

"We have seen it again and again: A Black or brown person is sitting in a Starbucks, barbequing in a public park, touring a college they hope to attend, or sitting down in the college they already attend. Then someone calls the cops on them for looking like they 'don’t belong' or are 'out of place.'"

In his autobiography, "Promised Land," Obama shared experiences of racial profiling, and indeed outright racism, he experienced in college:

"The multiple occasions when I'd been asked for my student ID while walking to the library on (Columbia University's) campus, something that never seemed to happen to my white classmates." 

In a 2019 article for Talon, the newspaper of Virginia high school Colonial Forge, Ernesto Bowen wrote, "​It is very unfortunate that African-American kids experience racism from preschool all through until college." Studies back up this statement. In 2020, U.S. News & World Report cited an ACLU study that found:

• "Black students lost 103 days per 100 students enrolled, 82 more days than the 21 days their white peers lost due to out-of-school suspensions."
• "Black boys lost 132 days per 100 students enrolled, while Black girls lost 77 days per 100 students enrolled."
• "In Missouri...Black students lost 162 more days of instructional time than white students. In New Hampshire, Hispanic students lost 75 more days than white students. And in North Carolina, Native American students lost 102 more days than white students."

Racial Profiling by Retailers

Though nationwide statistics are not collected and maintained on this issue, many say that racial profiling, particularly of Black people, is a rampant problem in the U.S. A 2020 CNBC article noted:

"[R]etail environments are one of the places where Black Americans say discrimination is prevalent, even as Black buying power grows. Industry watchers and activists say that problem remains persistent and retailers must do more to examine how they treat and cater to Black customers."

In a 2019 article for British newspaper The Guardian, Cassi Pittman Claytor wrote of the issue of "Shopping While Black":

"Name a store, any store, from Fifth Avenue to Main Street, and I’ll bet that I can find a black person who has experienced discrimination there."

Obama wrote in his aforementioned autobiography of:

"Being followed around by department store security guards while doing my Christmas shopping. The sound of car locks clicking as I walked across the street, dressed in a suit and tie, in the middle of the day."

Race, Intolerance, and the Church

Religious institutions have not been untouched by racism. Several Christian denominations have apologized for discriminating against Black people by supporting Jim Crow and backing slavery. The United Methodist Church and the Southern Baptist Convention are some of the Christian organizations that have apologized for perpetuating racism in recent years.

Many churches have not only apologized for alienating Black people and other minority groups, but they have also attempted to make their churches more diverse and appoint Black people in key roles. Despite these efforts, churches in the U.S. remain largely racially segregated.

Churches aren't the only entities in question here, with many individuals and business owners using religion as a reason why they feel they can deny service to certain groups. A survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 15% of Americans believe business owners have the right to deny service to Black people if it violates their religious beliefs. Men were more likely to support this denial of service than women, and Protestants were more likely than Catholics to support this form of discrimination. In fact, the number of Protestants who support race-based denials of service more than doubled from 8% in 2014 to 22% in 2019.