Why Focus on Institutional Racism?

When it comes to race, Seattle is no different than any other city in the United States. Race influences where we live, where we work, how well we do in school, how long we will live, and the likelihood of our involvement in the criminal justice system. To eliminate these inequities we must focus on the root of the problem: institutional racism.

Institutional racism is when organizational programs or policies work to the benefit of white people and to the detriment of people of color, usually unintentionally or inadvertently.

To challenge institutional racism, we have to look beyond individual acts of prejudice to the systemic biases that are built into our institutions. None of us are to blame for what happened in the past, but we all are responsible for eliminating racism and its legacy today.