“A people without knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots”

― Marcus Garvey ―

Race is a social construct that artificially divides people into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance (particularly skin color), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation or history, ethnic classification, and/or the social, economic, and political needs of a society at a given period of time. Scientists agree that there is no biological or genetic basis for racial categories. The term People of Color is used to denote the social construction of racial groups within the United States that are in the minority in terms of political and economic power.

The Origin of Race in the USA (10:15)- Do you believe that your race correlates to your skin tone? Because that wasn’t always the case. So how did Americans come to believe that race equals certain visible physical characteristics such as skin color and hair? And why is it that certain ethnic groups that were once considered “non-white” became reclassified as “white”? Watch the episode to find out.

The United States is one of the most multiracial and multiethnic nations in the world with a rich history of diverse individuals contributing to the country’s success. Although racial and ethnic diversity is a foundational part of this country’s fabric, racially marginalized communities in the United States have often been subjected to practices that challenge their humanity and right to exist. Hence, despite its diversity, the United States has also been shaped by a long and entrenched history of oppression, including the colonization of Indigenous people, enslavement of African populations, and labor-based exploitation of people from Mexico and China.

The Lie That Invented Racism (18:21) - To understand and eradicate racist thinking, start at the beginning. That's what journalist and documentarian John Biewen did, leading to a trove of surprising and thought-provoking information on the "origins" of race. He shares his findings, supplying answers to fundamental questions about racism -- and lays out an exemplary path for practicing effective allyship.

Racism in America: A History in Three Acts (1:02:29)- James Dator (Goucher College Professor of History and Africana Studies) explains the origins, causes, and changing nature of racism and race ideology in the United States from 1619 to the present.

Racism, is the epitome of what Rittel and Webber (1973) in their landmark text describe as a “wicked” problem. “Wicked” problems are complex problems that are highly resistant to solutions and that are characterized by high difficulty and disagreement about the nature and cause of the problem and their potential solutions. Racism also may be considered a fundamental determinant of health because it is a dynamic process that endures and adapts over time, and because it influences multiple mechanisms, policies, practices, and pathways that ultimately affect health. There is a long history of research on racism, colonization, and white supremacy across the globe describing the scope and depth of the problem. Racism, as a legacy of colonization and slavery, has had profound intergenerational effects on health, social and economic outcomes.

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva - What Makes Systemic Racism Systemic? (1:07:42) - Professor Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, author of Racism Without Racists, explains that the “systemic” in “systemic racism” means that we all participate in the reproduction of the racialized order. Furthermore, this reproduction depends fundamentally on behavior and actions that are normative, habituated, and often unconscious.

Harvard law professor Lani Guinier argued there are serious flaws in the general public’s understanding of racism in the US, which she describes as racial liberalism—where the race problem is viewed focally as “a psychological and interpersonal challenge rather than a structural problem rooted in our economic and political system”. When we define racism as solely rooted in people, interactions, and moments―as is commonplace in our society―despite any amount of remediation, the problem will persist because we are in effect addressing the symptoms, not the disease. Guinier instead calls on communities and institutions to develop collective capacity to “decipher the durable racial grammar that structures racialized hierarchies and frames the narrative of our republic” meaning, we need an understanding of how racism pervades through systems and institutions and that our actions to address it must be substantive, structural, and sustained.

Reflection Questions

What are your thoughts on the video clips?
What reflections stood out to you, and why?
How were you socialized to think about and engage matters of race and racism?
How might a lack of consciousness of race and racism impact our ability to foster racial equity?

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