STRUCTURAL RACIALIZATION: A LENS FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW

OPPORTUNITY IS RACIALIZEDjohn a. powell

Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and EthnicityWilliams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law

July 9-11, 2009ISAIAH

Today’s Conversation

Different types of racism Individual Institutional Structural racialization

Why use a structural racialization analysis?

Using structural racialization analysis to promote change

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Key Takeaways

Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional arrangements and interactions. It shows how the joint operation of institutions can produce racialized outcomes.

Once we are able to see the multiple, intersecting, and often mutually reinforcing disadvantages of structural racialization, we develop more effective responses.

A structural racialization analysis allows us to recognize that people are situated differently inside of existing structures.

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Individual

Institutional

Structural Racialization

Types of Racism

Individual Racism Discrimination Model

Victim/perpetrator Prejudice (bad actor/ bad apple) Intent (purpose or motive)

Recognized that racism need not be individualist or intentional.

Institutional and cultural practices can perpetuate race inequality without relying on racist actors. Jim Crow

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Institutional Racism

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Dominant public paradigms explaining disparities: “bad apples” Defective culture Individual faults Personal Racism

Overlooks policies and arrangements: “diseased tree” Structures Institutions Cumulative causation

Attribution of Disparities

The Arrangement of Structures How we arrange structures matters

The order of the structures The timing of the interaction between them The relationships that exist between them

We must be aware of how structures are arranged in order to fully understand social phenomena

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Ex: Structural Arrangements and Unemployment

Jobs are distributed through structures. Most teachers are women. Most construction workers are men.

When unemployment rates change, we need to be conscious of how people are segregated into economic sectors.

There are racial and gendered outcomes to these structural arrangements.

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The Importance of Institutional Arrangements

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Contrasting Perspectives

Traditional Understanding {-} Structural Understanding {+}

An independent-isolated-individual psychological issue

An outcome that results from interactivity of institutions & actors

De jure De facto

Static Dynamic

Past, if present an anomaly Present

Overt Overt and covert

Irrational Rational

Tautological Non-tautological (multidimensional)

Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (1997)

Structural Racialization

How race works today: There are still practices, cultural norms and institutional arrangements that help create & maintain (disparate) racialized outcomes

Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional arrangements and interactions.

It refers to the ways in which the joint operation of institutions produce racialized outcomes.

In this analysis, outcomes matter more than intent.

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Term Clarification

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Structural Racialization Produces Racialized Outcomes

13 Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004

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Structural Racialization

Structural racialization accounts for the cumulative effects of institutional arrangements. Causation is interactive between institutions.

Lower Educational

Outcomes for Urban

School Districts

Increased Flight

of Affluent Families from Urban Areas

Neighborhood (Housing)

Segregation

SchoolSegregatio

n

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These cows are ill. Why?

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Photo source: AP

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Mutual Institutional Interaction

Employment

Housing

Childcare

Effective Participation

HealthEducation

Transportation

An analysis of any one area will yield an incomplete

understanding.

We must consider how institutions

interact with one another to

produce racialized outcomes.

Structural Racialization Analysis Applied

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Subsidized Housing Policies

DiscriminatoryAnd Unfair Lending

A Housing MarketThat Does Not Serve

the Population

Racial SteeringAnd Discrimination

ExclusionaryZoning

Housing Challeng

es

Application of SR Model:Thompson v. HUD

In 1995, six families living in Baltimore public housing filed suit on behalf of 14,000 other low-income families.

In 2005, a federal court ruled that HUD had violated Title

VIII of the Fair Housing Act by failing to affirmatively further fair housing.

HUD had effectively restricted low-income minority families to segregated neighborhoods in the central city.

During the 1990s, 89% of public housing units developed with HUD’s support in the Baltimore Region were in Baltimore City.

The majority – more than 67%– of the City’s Section 8 voucher holders live in census tracts that are 70% - 100% Black.

What benefits do we gain from using this analysis?

What do we lose when we fail to embrace this analysis?

Why Use a Structural Racialization Analysis?

SR Analysis: Uncovers Complexities We understand that racism produces negative

outcomes.

When we have proof of racism, this can clearly lead to a call for action to combat it.

But what about when there are disparities and the source(s) of the racism is/are unclear?

Structural racialization often operates in this more stealth manner.

The call for social action against the racism often is less urgent. 22

SR Analysis: Provides Context A structural analysis is deeply relational and

timebound.

Example: the subprime crisis. “People got bad loans.”

A surface view solution: “Stop giving people bad loans.”

Contextualized view (SR analysis) solution: Fix the dual credit market, stop spatial segregation/redlining, work toward stable home-equity building, etc.

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Systems Theory Highlights Relationships

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It is critical in systems

thinking and structural

racialization to

realize that people are situated

differently inside of existing

structures.

Source: Barbara Reskin. http://faculty.uwashington.edu/reskin/

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Using A Structural Racialization Analysis to Produce Change

When we use race properly, we can show how structural dynamics and failings hurt everyone – linked fate

Begin to analyze how housing, education, employment, transportation, health care, and other systems interact to yield racialized outcomes for different groups.

Structural racialization as an analytical toolis a particular example of a systems approach.

“We need to look at the individual in terms of many different relationships to him/herself, many things in relationship to his/her community and to the larger community, not just in isolation. If we take this approach seriously, it affects how we see the world, how we experience ourselves, how we do our work, and helps move us to a truly inclusive paradigm.”

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~john a. powell

Eliminating Structural Racialization

A top-down approach to eliminating structural racialization will not work.

Community members must be involved and given a voice to help shape a new paradigm.

Hence, coalition and community building are key elements in any strategy for challenging structural racialization.

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A Transformative Agenda

Transformative change in the racial paradigm in the U.S. requires substantive efforts in three areas:

Talking about race: Understanding how language and messages shape reality and the perception of reality

Thinking about race: Understanding how framing and priming impact information processing in both the explicit and the implicit mind

Linking these understandings to the way that we act on race and how we arrange our institutions and policies

Questions or Comments? For More Information, Visit Us Online:www.KirwanInstitute.org

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APPENDIX

The Pathway to Opportunity

Minnesota data

Opportunity Matters: Space, Place, and Life Outcomes

“Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals in a position to be more likely to succeed or excel.

Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to success:

High-quality education Healthy and safe environment Stable housing Sustainable employment Political empowerment Outlets for wealth-building Positive social networks

Section 2

Opportunity Matters: Neighborhoods & Access to Opportunity Your environment has a

profound impact on your access to opportunity and likelihood of success

High poverty areas with poor employment, underperforming schools, distressed housing and public health/safety risks depress life outcomes A system of disadvantage Many manifestations

Urban, rural, suburban

People of color are far more likely to live in opportunity deprived neighborhoods and communities

Factors Contributing to Residential Segregation and Isolation

De facto segregation and opportunity isolation Exclusionary zoning

Subtle forms of housing discriminationRacial steering, editorializing

Fragmented school districts and court decisions

Economic development policy, infrastructure policy and subsidized housing policy

Continued exurban sprawl and white flight

Reverse redliningBuy here pay here, rent to own, payday lending,

subprime mortgage loans

Spatial Segregation

Structural racialization involves a series of exclusions, often anchored in (and perpetuating) spatial segregation.

Historically marginalized people of color and the very poor have been spatially isolated from economic, political, educational and technological power via reservations, Jim Crow, Appalachian mountains, ghettos, barrios, and the culture of incarceration.

Neighborhood

Segregation

School Segregation

Racial stigma, other psychological impacts

Job segregation

Impacts on community power and individual

assets

Impacts on Educational Achievement

The Cumulative Impacts of Spatial, Racial and Opportunity Segregation

Exposure to crime; arrest

Transportation limitations and other inequitable public services

Adapted from figure by Barbara Reskin at: http://faculty.washington.edu/reskin/

Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities

Impacts on Health

Education - Minnesota

Race/Ethnicity Percent

White 38%

Asian/Pacific Islander

31%

Latino 14%

American Indian 11%

African American 8%

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Minnesota students measuring proficient or above on the 11th grade

math test in 2008

http://www.minnesotameeting.com/uploads/EducationFactSheet.pdf

Education - Minnesota

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“Minnesota has the 2nd largest gap in the nation between African-American and white students on the 4th grade reading score.”

http://www.minnesotameeting.com/uploads/EducationFactSheet.pdf

Education – Minnesota & St. Cloud

In the St. Cloud region, 93% of white students graduated in the 2004-05 school year, only 63% of black students graduated.

38 http://www.gamaliel.org/ISAIAH/RacialJusticeFocusLaunch.htm

White

Asian American

American Indian

African American

Latinos

80%66%

41%41%41%

2006-07 High School Graduation Rates in Minnesota

Health – Low Birthweights

39 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf

Health – Infant Mortality

40 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf

Health – Uninsured

41 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf

Income

42http://www.racialdisparity.org/files/Final%20Report-Reducing%20Disparity%20%20Enhancing%20Safety.pdf

Minnesota: Poverty Rate by Race/Ethnicity;

MN data (2006-2007), U.S. data (2007)

MN: # MN: % US: # US: %

White 392,970 8.9% 22,631,070 11.5%

Black 88,740 41.2% 11,676,830 32.2%

Hispanic 65,110 28.0% 13,053,740 28.4%

Other 52,710 17.4% 3,847,620 19.4%

Total 599,530 11.6% 51,209,260 17.2%

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Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on the Census Bureau's March 2007 and 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS: Annual Social and Economic Supplements).

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?cat=1&ind=14&rgn=25

State Imprisonment Rates

Minnesota (2005): Black: 1,973 White 212

This equates to a Black/White ratio of 9.14.

Minnesota's Black-to-White imprisonment ratio is the twelfth highest in the nation.

The national average Black/White ratio is 7.09.

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Non-White Overrepresentation in Prisons & Jails in Minnesota

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Blacks Latinos Native Americans Whites0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

3.5% 2.9% 1.1%

89.4%

28.4%

8.7% 7.6%

54.8%

Total Population Incarcerated Population

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/statepopulations.html; Data source: 2000 U.S. Census

Subprime Loans- Home Purchase

46“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009

Subprime Loans- Refinance

47“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009

Relationship Between Race & Foreclosures

48“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009

Subprime Lending & Foreclosures

49“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009

Implications of Opportunity Isolation

Individual

Poor economic outcomes, lower educational outcomes, degraded asset development

Poor health conditions, higher exposure and risk from crime

Psychological distress, weak social and professional networks

Community/Economy

High social costs, distressed and stressed communities, fiscal challenges

Weakened civic engagement and democratic participation Underdeveloped human capital, poor labor outlook, poor

economic development prospects

Opening Pathways to Opportunity What happens when we affirmatively connect people to

opportunity?

After implementing economically diverse magnets schools in Wake County, NC, African American student test scores doubled

Children in public housing who moved to the suburbs as part of Chicago’s Gautreaux program were twice as likely to attend college (in comparison to their urban peers) (Rosenbaum)

Despite the flaws in the implementation of MTO, many participants experienced substantial psychological benefits

Moving to opportunity for boys resulted in a 25% decline in depressive/anxiety or dependency problems (2005)