intersection of structural racism and structural...
TRANSCRIPT
Intersection of Structural Racism and
Structural Violence: Understanding Implications for
Structural Change in CitiesWebinar #1 – Structural Racism / Oct. 1, 2015
Webinar Series Presenters
• Oronde Miller, Cities United Technical
Assistance Lead
• Linda Bowen, Cities United Technical
Assistance Consultant/Institute for
Community Peace
• Lyman Legters, Casey Family
Programs/U.S. Department of Justice
Instructions for Participating
• To hear the audio portion of the webinar, calling
in via phone is necessary• Conference Number (to join the audio for the webinar): (800) 896-1123
• Participant Code: 8397998224
• Follow the prompts to associate your phone with the pin provided
• Please put your phone on mute and don’t put
the call on hold
• Use the Q&A box to ask questions and be sure
to indicate your city
• The hand raise feature is also available to you to
let us know you have a question
• Understand key definitions and concepts related to race and racism (in the American context).
• Understand the structural context of violence in the life experiences of Black males and their families.
• Begin to learn how to engage a structural analysis in your city’s work of supporting Black boys and young men.
Primary Series Objectives
Session Objectives
• Enhance participants’ awareness and consciousness
about structural racism and structural violence.
• Create space to have these difficult discussions.
• Provide you with the language and a sense of
competence and confidence to have conversations about
these dynamics.
• Support your ability to bring a structural lens into the work
being led by mayors and key city partners.
• Provide a framework for how to begin to engage a
process of structural change in your work and community.
Agreements
• Be OK with Discomfort
• Listen For Understanding
• Create Safe Space
• There Is No Quick Fix
• Stay At The Table
Changing the Structural Frame on
African American Men and Boys
Key Definitions for
Understanding Racism
Perception• State of being or process of becoming aware of
something through the senses
• Mental impression
Prejudice
• Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience
• Dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior deriving from unfounded opinions
Key Definitions for
Understanding Racism Discrimination
• Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.
• Unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex (i.e. racial discrimination)
Racism• ‘Race’ as a social construct (human sorting and
classification)
• A system, implying a set of agreed upon rules, processes, criteria and judgments used to sort and classify people
• Racism = Race Prejudice + Power (The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond)
• Economics
• Education
• Entertainment
• Labor
• Law
• Politics
• Religion
• Sex
• War / Counter-War
Understanding Racism
As described in The United Independent Compensatory Code: A Text Book/Work Book for Victims of Racism/White Supremacy; By Neeley Fuller, Jr., 1969.
Racism is deeply embedded in the 9 primary areas of human activity…
• It’s a debate about the meaning and existenceof racism.
• We need to shift the popular understanding of racism from personal prejudice to institutional inequality.
• We need to illuminate racism in order to eliminate racism.
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
The Race Debate
• “Post-Racialism”
• “Transcending Race”
• “Colorblindness”
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Dominant Terms of the
Race Debate
Race is a Social and Political Construct
In the United States both scholars and the general public have been
conditioned to viewing human races as natural and separate divisions within
the human species based on visible physical differences. With the vast
expansion of scientific knowledge in this century, however, it has become clear
that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically
distinct groups. Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates
that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups.
Conventional geographic "racial" groupings differ from one another only in
about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within
"racial" groups than between them. In neighboring populations there is much
overlapping of genes and their phenotypic (physical) expressions. Throughout
history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred.
The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as
a single species. American Anthropological Association Statement on "Race” (May 17, 1998)
Key Definitions for
Understanding Racism
Stereotype
• a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea
of a particular type of person or thing
Bias
• Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or
group compared with another, usually in a way
considered to be unfair
• Types of Bias = Conscious vs. Unconscious / Implicit
Key Definition
Racismo An act, a practice or a process based on race (race
judgment)
o A system, implying a set of agreed upon rules, processes, criteria and judgments used to sort and classify people
o Several levels of racism
Role of Power in Racism
POWER + RACE PREJUDICE
=
RACISM
POWER
and
PRIVILEGE
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Expanding the Discussion
Different Levels of Racism
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Internalized / Individual Interpersonal / Individual
Institutional Structural
Narrow View of Racism
Racism is ONLY…
Comprehensive View of Racism
Racism is OFTEN…
Individual bias Institutional inequity
Intentional acts Impacts of actions
Isolated incidents Infused throughout society
Immediate and obvious Invisible and insidious
In the past In the present
It’s All in the Eyes (I’s)
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Structural Racism:
…a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural
representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing
ways to perpetuate racial group inequity. It identifies dimensions of
our history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with
“whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure
and adapt over time.
…offers a conceptual framework for understanding the general
cultural assumptions, values, ideologies, and stereotypes that allow
disparities to go unchallenged.
Definition discussed further in the publication Structural Racism and Community Building; published
by The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change. Retrieved online at:
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/content/docs/rcc/aspen_structural_racism2.pdf
Key Definition
Understanding Racism Structural Racism lens allows us to see and understand…
a) …the racial legacy of our past.
What is the historical context?
b) …how racism persists in our national policies, institutional practices,
and cultural representations
What is the present-day manifestation?
c) …how racism is transmitted and either amplified or mitigated through
public, private, and community institutions.
What is the role of institutions?
d) …how individuals internalize and respond to racialized structures.
What is the response of individuals?
Discussed in the publication Structural Racism and Community Building; published by
The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change. Retrieved online at:
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/content/docs/rcc/aspen_structural_racism2.pdf
Racial Justice
Racial Justice ≠ Diversity
(Diversity = Variety)
Racial Justice ≠ Equality
(Equality = Sameness)
Racial Justice = Equity
(Equity = Fairness, Justice)
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Racial Justice = Equity
Note: The above image was adapted by the City of Portland, Office of Equity and Human Rights from the original graphic:
http://indianfunnypicture.com/img/2013/01/Equality-Doesnt-Means-Justice-Facebook-Pics.jpg
Equality = SamenessEquality provides the same thing for
everyone. This only works when people start
from the same place, history and set of
circumstances.
Equity = JusticeEquity is about fairness, and providing people
with the resources and opportunities they
need, given their history and set of circumstances.
Definition: Racial Justice is the creation and proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all.
Indicators: Equitable impacts and outcomes across race is the evidence of racial justice.
Racial Justice
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
• Focuses on changing systems, institutional practices, policies and outcomes.
• Cannot just be reactive -- must propose equitable solutions and engage in proactive strategies.
• Requires ongoing consciousness and strategic action. We cannot be “colorblind” or silent.
Race Forward / f. Applied Research Center, 2009)
Racial Justice:
Strategy for Change
Different Strategies for Addressing Racism at Different Levels
2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Internalized
Racism• support groups, racial healing
• mentoring, counseling
Interpersonal
Racism• diversity trainings
• cross-cultural dialogues, dinners
Institutional
Racism• changing policy and practices
• creating new institutions
Structural
Racism
• highlighting history, root causes
• challenging racist myths, ideologies
• lifting new values and embedding them in
the structures that determine our ways of
life. (power modes and resources)
Key Definitions–
Results of Structural Racism • Explicit / Conscious Bias
o The positive or negative attitude(s) one holds about a person, thing or group at the conscious level.
o Deliberately formed, Self-reported
o Often based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, appearance, etc.
• Implicit / Unconscious Biaso The positive or negative attitude(s) one holds about a person, thing
or group at the unconscious level.
o Formed involuntarily / Without our direct control
o Not necessarily consistent with our stated beliefs
o Typically unknown to us
o Often based on what a society believes at the macrolevel based upon its norms and values.
• Equity / Equitable Outcomes
• Inclusion / Accessibility
• Equal Opportunity
• Dignity / Human Rights
• Fairness / Fair Treatment
• Shared Power and Resources2009, Adapted from Race Forward, Formerly the Applied Research Center
Racial Justice:
Related Values and Key Ideas
Understanding the Context of
Violence Among Black Males
• Shared recognition of the systemic sources of youth disadvantages and
disparities
• Identification of the multiple and interrelated levels—cultural,
governmental, regional, local, institutional, individual, and so on—at which
racist norms, assumptions, policies, and practices pertinent to youth need
to be tackled
• Commitment among the field’s principal actors to working deliberately to
dismantle structures, policies, and practices that contribute to racial
inequities
• Forging alliances with fields that are also concerned about these issues,
such as community building, civil rights, social justice, and the like
Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change (Karen Fulbright-Anderson, Keith Lawrence, Stacey Sutton, Gretchen Susi, and Anne Kubisch,
authors). 2005. “Structural Racism and Youth Development: Issues, Challenges, and Implications.” Washington, D.C.: The Aspen Institute. Page 44.
Toward a Structural Analysis: Applying a
Structural Racism Lens to Youth Development
Q&A
Discussion
Upcoming Webinars
• Webinar # 2 - Friday, October 16, 2015
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm EDT
Focus: Structural Violence
• Webinar #3 - Friday, October 30, 2015
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm EDT
Focus: Structural Change
• If not already registered, go to:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CGLMNNL
Additional Information
• Cities United Website – www.citiesunited.org
• For information about joining Cities United,
reach out to [email protected]
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request technical assistance, reach out to