I thought racism was gone.

Have you heard anyone say...

Only a few people are racist because racism has been basically gone since the Civil Rights Movement right? Racism isn’t that big of an issue anymore so why are people still fighting for racial equality, which the Civil Rights Movement achieved? Everyone's the same, equal.

Today, Americans are divided in perceptions on race and racial inequalities. For instance, in 2016, the Pew Research Center reported that 41% of whites surveyed said that people pay too much attention to race nowadays, while 58% of Black people surveyed said people pay too little attention to race. The same survey reported that 45% of all adults think that the US has not gone far enough to give Black Americans equal rights with whites, while 39% believe the US has done enough to give Black Americans equal rights and 15% believe that the country has gone too far to give Black Americans equal rights (1% did not respond). Furthermore, the same survey reported that Black people were significantly more likely to report that they believe slavery still impacts their position on society.

It is understandable that people of different races have various perspectives on race relations in respect to everyday experiences. However, it is important to acknowledge race does matter. Yes, we are all part of the “human race,” but physical differences in appearance are associated with certain “categories” which we understand as race. Race still matters, as our perceived race undeniably affects everyday experiences. The establishment of these socially constructed classifications is deeply rooted in the history of the US, and understanding how race was established will provide us insight to how race matters and its relations to racism.

Some claim that racism ended after the Civil Right Movement and that racism is “gone” or “rare” because today the majority of people condemn racist remarks. Just because the Civil Rights Movement ended in 1968 and Barack Obama was elected President in 2009 does not discredit that racism persists today. Furthermore, people may believe that racism is “gone” or “rare to find/experience” because most people understand racism as individual acts of racial discrimination and/or discriminatory laws against people of color. Racism, however, entails more than just overt racism.

Though people condemn overt racism (blatant discriminatory behavior against minorities on the basis of skin color), racism continues to covertly puppeteer almost every level of society. Implicit biases and systems/structures such as housing, education, healthcare, policing, etc--perpetuate racism even though overt racism is thoroughly condemned in modern times. The Civil Rights Movement and Barack Obama’s presidency are not evidence of the cease of racism but rather evidence of our progression towards racial equity that has been long fought for and denied since The Birth of this Nation.

When we fail to acknowledge that race is real and consider that racism is more than racist attitudes between individuals, we fail to acknowledge the systems that continue to disproportionately disadvantage the minority, especially Black Americans, and in turn, we passively allow the persistence of racism.

In the following sections--“Race and Racism are social constructs,” “What is systemic racism?,” and “What is implicit bias?”--we will examine how race and racism are intertwined and their relationship to not only the foundation of the US but also how they affect society today and everyday experiences.