Race and racism are social constructs

People often believe racism and colorism to be synonymous. Racism and colorism are related but are distinct ideologies. Colorism is the discrimination against people with darker skin tones, while racism is the discrimation and oppression of other people based on their perceived races in the context of historically established power. Both colorism and racism intertwine to collectively and unjustly oppress people not only in the United States but also in other countries. In particular to the US, racism rose as a consequence of colonization, and colorism became culturally ingrained as a result of racism.

In order to support colonization, Europeans created the concept of race to justify the enslavement of Africans and the native people in order to maintain and expand their power across the “New World.” The construction of this racial hierarchy created and allowed the persistence of racism into modern times. Racism is an ideology and practice based upon the discriminatory use of power by a dominant race over minority races.

Some only equate racism to singular perpetrators without fully realizing racism’s vast influence on not only interpersonal interactions but also social norms, unrealized internal biases, and institutional structures such as healthcare, government, and education. The lack of knowledge of how racism has permeated throughout the US’s fundamental structures ultimately prolonged a national urgency for racial justice.

No genetic evidence distinguishes races on a biological basis. For example, two white people could be more genetically similar to an Asian person than they are to each other. One may ask “Is race real if it has no scientific basis?” or “If people of the same race tend to share physical characteristics, how could races not originate from distinct groups?” We should instead ask ourselves how and why some physical characteristics such as skin color and hair have been used to differentiate racial groups. Both sociologists and scientists recognize that race, while not founded on genetics, is “real.” Race is a social construct based on perceived appearances historically rooted in politics and a desire for power and superiority, and though it is socially constructed, the consequences of racialization on every individual in society are quite real and tangible.

In the United States colonial era, “white” was defined as any person without an ounce of African or native blood. The concept of the white race emerged as a consequence for a need for controlled labor in the colonies, which led to the enslavement of Africans and American Indians. During the creation of the US constitution, the South used race as a political weapon to control congressional representation, as slaves were deemed three-fifths of a person to give the south more electoral votes and natives were not taxed in order to obstruct their right to vote. Even after the abolition of slavery, Jim Crow, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Dawes Act, and many other forms of racial oppression stained the history of the US.

When considering the concept of racism, the history and establishment of white supremacy in the US must be taken into consideration, as racism assumes superiority of one race over other racial groups to justify inferior treatment and social and economic positions. This definition of racism inherently assumes that one racial group possesses power. Hence, the popular belief that racism is discrimination against another person based on racial prejudice (pre-conceived notions and biases about a group that can lead to harmful discrimination) is incomplete in accordance to modern sociologists.The latter definition of racism fails to recognize the foundation that perpetuates racism, which is the difference of power between racial groups. Therefore, racism is prejudice + power, and power is the ability to control access to resources and opportunities and others’ beliefs and behaviors.

Many often use the terms racism and discrimination interchangeably; however, racism is inherently distinct from discrimination, for racism spans more than individual actions of racial discrimination. Racism is the oppression of racial groups through systematic discrimination on all levels of society and individual actions that enforce this systemic oppression of other racial groups backed by historical and current power. This leads to an unequal distribution of resources between minority racial groups and the racial group benefited by this system.

Hence, in the US, white people can experience racial discrimination and racial minorities can also discriminate against other racial minorities. However, there is a subtle yet critical difference when a white person in the US racially discriminates against a person of color (POC). If white people discriminate against a POC, they are reinforcing the systemic oppression of minority racial groups and exhibiting racist ideologies, because the American system has privileged and continues to privilege white people and disadvantage minorities.

For example, if a white person refused to hire a Black person based on their race, the white person would be exhibiting racism, as white people hold historical/current power in the US to back their discrimination. The white person’s discriminatory actions reinforce the systemic oppression of racial minorities who are already disadvantaged. If a Black person refused to hire a white person based on their race, the Black person would be exhibiting racial discrimination, which is also very wrong. However, unlike the white person, the Black person is not exhibiting racism because of context. Racism possesses systemic implications, which further differentiates it from prejudice and discrimination, and has also persisted covertly through implicit biases.

Historically, white people in the United States are systemically favored and advantaged while POC have historically been oppressed. It is clear that in this example the white person is exhibiting racism because their discriminatory actions are backed by context of social and institutional power unlike the Black person’s actions. The effects of the Black person’s discriminatory behavior are temporary and limited to the single individual, because white people are already systemically advantaged. While the white person in this example is discriminating against one Black person, their actions must be viewed in the context of power in the US where POC are already systematically oppressed. Therefore, the white person’s individual racial discrimination perpetuates the cyclic oppression of POC: racism.

*Read more about current evidence of systemic racism and how implicit biases reinforce racism in our sections about systemic racism and implicit bias.