Systemic racism is a theoretical concept that describes how discriminatory actions show up in various systems such as education, economics, healthcare, and criminal justice. It is rooted in the claim that the United States was founded as a racist society and that racism is embed ded in all social institutions, structures, and social relations within the society.
Systemic racism is composed of intersecting, overlapping, and codependent racist institutions, policies, practices, ideas, and behaviors that give an unjust amount of resources, rights, and power to White people while denying them to people of color. It is characterized by the operation of dominant “white-framed perspectives” that disadvantage a racial group.
The consequences of systemic racism are vast and include the racial wealth gap, political disenfranchisement, mass incarceration, racist immigration policies, microaggressions, racial profiling, racist media imagery, and disparities in health, education, employment, and housing.