It may surprise many to know that racism does not only involve individual acts of meanness, but it can exist as an in invisible system that grants dominance to a specific racial group. In traditional Western societies many are taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but one of its outcomes actually puts some at an advantage, called white privilege. Here are just a few example of how those with white privilege can identify their condition of empowerment:
• If you wish, you could arrange to be in the company of people of your own race most of the time.
• If you should need to move, you can be fairly confident that you’ll be able to rent or purchase housing in an area you can afford and in which you would want to live.
• You can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of your own race widely represented.
• When you’re told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” you’re shown that people of your own color made it what it is.
• You can swear, dress in second hand clothes, or not answer calls/emails, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of your race.
White privilege it seems, is like an undetectable but very real set of provisions and benefits that those of Caucasian or Anglo-Saxon decent are entitled to at birth. This privilege also extends into the workplace, in the form of institutional racism, and can be extremely damaging to the dynamics amongst employees and also how employees interact with management.
Institutional racism is defined as a racial bias that is “systematically structured and made valid by the dominant group (whites) for their own self benefit and interest resulting in participation of power and privilege that is sanctioned by law.” (Chisom & Washington, 1997). Because this racial bias is deeply rooted in society and can seem almost invisible, it may be difficult to identify, especially in the workplace. The following list (Seattle Human Service Coalition, 2005) offers examples of beliefs, practices, and policies that reflect institutional racism in the workplace:
• Organizations do not provide an equal opportunity for people of various ethnicities to compete for job openings because little or inadequate outreach is done to recruit potential employees.
• When salary records show that white workers earn more money than co-workers who are people of color with similar job responsibilities and titles.
• When white workers are given more training opportunities to increase their capacity and skill levels than their co-workers who are people of color.
• When white workers are given more opportunities than co-workers of color to lead projects and therefore gain the visibility and leadership competencies needed to secure promotional opportunities.
• When staff who are people of color are silenced, overlooked, or marginalized at meetings, and their views, opinions, ideas are not given the same weight and value as those of their white counterparts. Managers who give subtle and/or obvious clues that they do not highly value the opinions of people of color; and staff pick up on these cues and become passive or active participants in distancing or downgrading people of color.
• Organizational leaders, regardless of their own ethnicity, who have a racist bias that white people are more reliable and work harder than people of color. These leaders carry this racial bias into their interactions with their staff and with the clients served by their company.
• Organizational leaders base appropriate employee and client behavior on an understanding of what the dominate culture believes is appropriate, respectful, and grateful behavior. White managers and workers who rarely make efforts to understand and incorporate behaviors and courtesies that are deemed appropriate or respectful by diverse ethnicities.
These examples show how a dominant racial group can be made to feel confident, comfortable, and oblivious, while other groups were likely being made unconfident, uncomfortable and alienated. It is however important to distinguish between earned opportunities versus unearned privilege that’s granted by established system in a workplace. If a privilege allows certain individuals to escape or to dominate because of their race, it is by definition unearned and damaging to those of other ethnic backgrounds.
It’s also key to consider that it can be quite difficult or even dangerous to identify and try to change the conditions of institutional racism. Since racism, sexism, and heterosexism are not the same, the systematic advantages associated with them should not be seen as the same. Moreover, it is hard to disentangle aspects of unearned advantaged which rest more on social class, economic class, race, religion, gender, and ethnic identity than on other factors. Despite these obstacles, it’s important to identify and eliminate racism, in all forms, so that cultural sensitivity and appreciation can be a privilege granted to everyone.