A 🧵The idea that institutional racism is a myth because "there are no laws mandating racist mistreatment," as in the days of segregation, is the silliest hot take ever. Only a deliberately obtuse person could believe this...please follow for an explainer on why it's absurd...
2/ First off, historically, that would mean there was hardly ever institutional racism in the U.S. outside of the American South (which is ridiculous) bc most of the North/West maintained racial subordination more through informal customs/practices than legal apartheid...
3/ So, for instance, real estate brokers created residential segregation in places CA early in the 20th century, and the Midwest, mostly through professional practices imposed on members internally, w/o the force of law per se, which compelled them not to sell to certain people..
4/ But obviously that was institutional racism in the housing market. Likewise, after the Civil Rights Act made overt job discrimination illegal, companies began imposing certain qualification requirements for jobs, which they knew would screen out Black people...
5/ The Duke Power Co., in a famous example (but hardly unique) suddenly required a HS diploma and certain score on an "Industrial aptitude test" to get entry level jobs. These requirements had NEVER existed before. They went into effect literally the week the CRA became law...
6/ But would we say that wasn't institutional racism, just because there was no law producing the outcome? Of course not. Likewise, the war on drugs has been waged dispro on Black folks, but not because the law requires that. Cops have the right to selectively enforce laws...
7/ But when they do it, even though it's "legal" are we really saying that isn't institutional racism in law enforcement? Of course not. When the NC legislature passed new voter ID laws, but beforehand inquired from the state which ID types Blacks were least likely to have...
8/ ...And once they learned the answer, they made sure to require THAT kind of ID, the court noted Black voters had been targeted for exclusion with almost surgical precision. But they LAW didn't ban black voters, it was just written to dispro effect them. How is that not IR?..
9/ In the job market, if companies hire dispro from networking (and evidence says they do), and POC are less likely to be in the best word of mouth networks, that perpetuates racialized unfairness in the labor market...it's institutional racism even w/o a law requiring it...
10/ The point is, institutions operate based on policies, practices & procedures, both formal & informal. Some are backed by law, others simply allowed under the law, or ignored by the law. To suggest ONLY formal state policy (law) can perpetuate institutional racism is silly...
11/ The argument is based on a definition of institutional that exists in no dictionary or common sense usage. It's an argument by deliberate disingenuous people to avoid dealing with reality. END
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