institutional racism
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A 'Confederacy of Whiteness': Virginia Military Institute's Uncivil War Against Its Black Students
When Vice President Mike Pence visited the Virginia Military Institute, the Black students disappeared. That is not a metaphor. Everyone loves a good metaphor. But Mike Pence is not the personification of VMI’s racism, and there are much better ways to compare 181-year old VMI—the oldest state-supported military college in the U.S.—with the 244-year-old country…
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President Jim Crow: Donald Trump's White Supremacy Week
We should stop referring to Donald Trump as a racist. Racism—the “belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities”—is a personal and individual principle that only exists in theory. Racism cannot be objectively measured or detected, as it is always subject to interpretation. Because of this, it is easily denied by…
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‘Mind the Gap’: A 20-Year-Old Black Medical Student Is Writing a Guide Illustrating How Common Medical Symptoms Appear on Dark Skin
A Zimbabwe-born medical student living in London is filling in an important blind spot in the medical community: informing healthcare providers and patients how symptoms for a broad range of conditions appear on darker skin. It’s the kind of problem that feels shockingly outdated for the 21st century, but as 20-year-old St. George student Malone…
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Black Firefighters in North Carolina Protest Systemic Racism, Demand Fire Chief Resign
OMNIBUS, an organization of Black firefighters in Winston-Salem, N.C., is fighting to change decades of institutional racism within their fire department. Fox 8 reports that the group, along with representatives from Emancipate NC, Hate Out of Winston and several other organizations, gathered outside of station 1 in Winston-Salem to demand that the fire chief and…
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When Paranoia Goes Wrong: Unpacking COVID-19 and Conspiracy Theories in the Black Community
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” — Professor Patricia A. Turner text Let’s talk about conspiracy theories. As COVID-19 cripples the world, so spreads some pretty outlandish ideas about the virus—its origin, who’s it set out to target and its mode of transmission. These beliefs are unproven, caused by…
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During a Global Health Pandemic, It's More Important Than Ever to Protect Black Mothers
Despite its status as a “developed” nation, about 700 women will die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth in the U.S.—more than any of its peers. Of that number, a disproportionately high number are black women—from 2007 to 2016, black mothers died at a rate of 3.2 times that of white mothers,…
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Mayor Pete’s Invisible Black Police
Given the choice of superpowers, would you rather have the ability to fly or the power of invisibility? This comic book-based Rorschach test allegedly reveals deep-seated personality traits. Supposedly, people who choose the gift of flight want recognition and praise while those who wish for invisibility are less confident and shun attention. While the question…
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Report: Hundreds of Police Officers Belong to Racist Facebook Groups
Investigative journalists have discovered hundreds of law enforcement officers around the country who are active in members-only Facebook groups that are based on racism, hate and … well, it would be nice to add a third thing here, but that’s about it. Reveal, a news website site run by the nonprofit Center for Investigative Journalism…
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Redlining: The Origin Story of Institutional Racism
To understand racism in America, one must first disabuse themselves of the idea that race is a social construct—an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society. Money is a social construct. We accept the idea that a dollar issued by the U.S. government is worth more than Monopoly money.…
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New Trump Administration Policy Would Make Racism OK as Long as You Don't Mean It
While America is engaged in a heated debate about the border wall and the government shutdown, at least three cabinet-level departments inside the Trump administration have been quietly investigating how they could roll back a particularly important legal precedent that prevents discrimination in housing, employment, policing and even education. The Washington Post reports that the…