Well said, Minister Patty Hajdu: “Racism is not an accident. The system is not broken. It was created this way.”
Here is a lesson for those who deny systemic Racism. Systemic Racism doesn’t mean, for instance, that there is a policy within OPS to discriminate against people of colour within OPS and go out only to harass, beat and, if possible, kill black people. No. This is not so simple in 2020.
Institutional Racism can be seen in all facets of our society: bank lending practices, immigration decisions, access to health care, housing, jobs, education, media portrayals, law enforcement, and court decisions.
The existence of institutional Racism shields privileging one set of people through standard operating procedures, which represent the rules, habits, procedures, and structures of organizations that oppress persons of colour while favouring the rest.
This means societal forces allowing only certain groups to purchase homes in affluent neighbourhoods; bank lending practices; “segregated” schools dispensing inferior education to one group but …; biased curricula, textbooks/materials; teachers/counsellors with racial perceptions; hiring/promotions practices that utilize the old boy’s network to recruit/promote prospective employees; and so on.