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Dismantling Racism Resource Book
Three Expressions of Racism
Cultural
Institutional
Personal
Personal: The way in which we perpetuate racism on an individual basis. Examples:
calling someone a racist name, making a racist assumption.
Cultural: The norms, values, or standards assumed by the dominant society which
perpetuate racism. Examples: thin, blond, white women as the basis for our
society’s standard of beauty; women on welfare are assumed to be black or brown
and are portrayed as irresponsible while white collar fraud in the business
community is costing the US $200 billion a year, requiring people to speak English
as a way of deliberately destroying community and culture.
Institutional: The way in which institutions – Housing, Government, Education,
Media, Business, Health Care, Criminal Justice, Religion – perpetuate racism.
Examples: people of color under-represented and misrepresented on television,
racially biased standardized tests used to determine who will be admitted to
higher education programs and institutions, historic and ongoing breaking of
treaties with indigenous American Indian communities, reliance on low-paying
immigrant labor by farms and factories.
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Dismantling Racism Project 38 Western States Center
