Presentation on 'A Primer on Institutional Racism' by Dr Heather Came, Lecturer, Head of Postgraduate Studies, School of Public Heath & Psychosocial Studies, AUT University, Auckland New Zealand: http://www.aut.ac.nz/profiles/heather-came2
This presentation was made at the Diversity Forum at Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand on 24 August 2014: http://www.hrc.co.nz/race-relations/new-zealand-diversity-forum/
4. Institutional Racism
“...white terrorists bomb a black church and kill five black children that is an act of individual racism…
But when in the same city – Birmingham, Alabama-five hundred black babies die each year because of the lack of proper food, shelter and medical facilities, and thousands more are destroyed and maimed physically, emotionally and intellectually because of conditions of poverty and discrimination in the black community that is a function of institutional racism”.
(Carmichael & Hamilton 1967:2)
Stokely Carmichael
5. Puao te Ata Tu
•Institutional racism is “… the outcomes of mono-cultural institutions which simply ignore and freeze out the cultures of those who do not belong to the majority.
•National structures are evolved which are rooted in the values, systems and viewpoints of one culture only.
•Participation by minorities is conditional on their subjugating their own values and systems to those of “the system” of the power culture”.
(Ministerial Advisory Committee, 1988, p19).
7. Institutional racism is a pattern of differential access to material resources and power by race, which advantages [privileges] one sector of the population while disadvantaging [enacting racism against] another. Action and inaction.
Informed by the writings of Yin Paradies and Camara Jones
Willful ignorance
Structural violence
Well- intentioned people
8. Power is…
•Overt (and covert) decision making
•Shaping meaning and value
•Agenda and priority setting
•Access to information and voice
•Being ordinary
12. Pre- selection (names)
Interviews (accents)
Lack local experience
Downwards based occupation mobility
Employment Based Discrimination
Problems with credential recognition
Over- qualified
13. References
•Jones, C. (2003). Confronting institutionalized racism. Phylon, 50(1/2), 7-22. Ministerial Advisory Committee. (1988). Puao te ata tu (Day break) Retrieved from Department of Social Welfare website: http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications- resources/archive/1988-puaoteatatu.pdf
•Paradies, Y. (2006). Defining, conceptualizing and characterizing racism in health research. Critical Public Health, 16(2), 143 - 157. doi: 10.1080/09581590600828881
•Spoonley, P, Meares, C, Ho, Elsie, Peace, R, Lewin, J, Cain, Trudie (2011). Namaste New Zealand: Indian employers and employees in Auckland, Massey University/Waikato University: Auckland, New Zealand.