Institutional Racism

     I recently stumbled upon an article that was talking about the different problems in different institutions throughout the nation. The article gave seven different instances where institutional racism still exits in America today. Within these situations, the statistics backing the claims up are eye opening. Specific ones being, "the unemployment rate for black college grads was almost twice as high as the rate for grads overall", "White families hold 90 percent of the national wealth. Black and Latino families combined hold less than five percent", and "58 percent of prisoners are black or hispanic, despite making up on quarter of the U.S. population."(1) These statistics show us just how much institutional racism is affecting our nation as a whole.

     After reading this article, I decided to look up different articles having to deal with institutional racism in comparison to the ideals and values that Martin Luther King expressed. I found an article that seems to say the opposite of the statistics from earlier as well as saying that Dr. King would be impressed with the progress that we have made as a nation since his time. This article takes pride in the steps we have taken as a country in making sure that discrimination does not take place within the work place.(2) This article also claims that institutional racism has been abolished in the way that employers cannot deny someone work because of the color of their skin, and that it deals with the law side of the country not the discrimination.(2)

     While it seems that we have made strides within the country since King's time, it also holds the idea that we have just adjusted the way we define racism within different situations. For example, yes, it is illegal to deny an individual for the color of their skin, but according to the statistics; we seem to have adapted to different ways of denying people of color different privileges that whites may possess. King did claim that he wanted individuals to be judged by the content of their character, but it seems to hold the question of whether we are judging their character or already having an idea of how we are to feel about them because of the color of their skin. Personally, we cannot claim that we have made major strides in America in King's name when the hardcore statistics do not efficiently back up what we are claiming. In the end, America has found different loop holes to define the acts of discrimation that are taking place throughout our nation. How do we take steps to address the "legal" loopholes that our society has created? What actions can we begin to take that will further the improvement of these horrible statistics? 

(1) Mercado, Mia. “Proof That Institutional Racism Is Still A Problem.” Bustle, Bustle, 22 Feb. 2018, www.bustle.com/p/this-is-proof-that-institutional-racism-is-still-very-much-a-problem-43610.

(2)“Institutional Racism - MLK Dream.” Google Sites, sites.google.com/a/bnths.nthls.com/mlk-dream/home/dream-fulfilled/3.

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