1. STRUCTURAL RACIALIZATION: A
LENS FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW
OPPORTUNITY IS RACIALIZED
john a. powell
Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law
July 9-11, 2009
ISAIAH

2. Today’s Conversation
 Different types of racism
 Individual
 Institutional
 Structural racialization
 Why use a structural racialization analysis?
 Using structural racialization analysis to promote change
2

3. Key Takeaways
 Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional
arrangements and interactions. It shows how the joint
operation of institutions can produce racialized outcomes.
 Once we are able to see the multiple, intersecting, and
often mutually reinforcing disadvantages of structural
racialization, we develop more effective responses.
 A structural racialization analysis allows us to recognize
that people are situated differently inside of existing
structures.
3

4. Types of Racism
Individual
Institutional
Structural Racialization

5. Individual Racism
 Discrimination Model
 Victim/perpetrator
 Prejudice (bad actor/ bad apple)
 Intent (purpose or motive)
Institutional Racism
 Recognized that racism need not be individualist or intentional.
 Institutional and cultural practices can perpetuate race
inequality without relying on racist actors.
 Jim Crow
5

6. Attribution of Disparities
 Dominant public paradigms explaining disparities: “bad apples”
 Defective culture
 Individual faults
 Personal Racism
 Overlooks policies and
arrangements: “diseased tree”
 Structures
 Institutions
 Cumulative causation
6

7. The Arrangement of Structures
 How we arrange structures matters
 The order of the structures
 The timing of the interaction between them
 The relationships that exist between them
 We must be aware of how structures are arranged in order to
fully understand social phenomena
7

8. Ex: Structural Arrangements and
Unemployment
 Jobs are distributed through structures.
 Most teachers are women.
 Most construction workers are men.
 When unemployment rates change, we need to be conscious
of how people are segregated into economic sectors.
 There are racial and gendered outcomes to these structural
arrangements.
8

9. The Importance of Institutional
Arrangements
9

10. Contrasting Perspectives
Traditional Understanding {-} Structural Understanding {+}
An independent-isolated- An outcome that results from
individual psychological interactivity of institutions &
issue actors
De jure De facto
Static Dynamic
Past, if present an anomaly Present
Overt Overt and covert
Irrational Rational
Tautological Non-tautological
(multidimensional)
10 Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (1997)

11. Structural Racialization
 How race works today: There are still practices, cultural norms
and institutional arrangements that help create & maintain
(disparate) racialized outcomes
 Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional
arrangements and interactions.
 It refers to the ways in which the joint operation of
institutions produce racialized outcomes.
 In this analysis, outcomes matter more than intent.
11

12. Term Clarification
Why “structural racialization”
as opposed to “structural
racism?”
• When you use the term “racism,” people are
inclined to see a specific person -- a racist.
• By using the term “racialization,” a racist is not
necessary to produce structural outcomes.
Instead, institutional interactions generate
racialized outcomes.
12

13. Structural Racialization Produces Racialized Outcomes
Context: The Dominant Consensus on Race
White privilege National values Contemporary culture
Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics
Processes that maintain racial Racialized public policies and
hierarchies institutional practices
Outcomes: Racial Disparities
Racial inequalities in current levels of Capacity for individual and community
well-being improvement is undermined
Ongoing Racial Inequalities
13 Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004

14. Structural Racialization
 Structural racialization accounts for the cumulative effects of
institutional arrangements. Causation is interactive between
institutions.
Lower
Educational
School
Outcomes for
Segregation
Urban
School Districts
Increased
Neighborhood Flight
(Housing) of Affluent
Segregation Families from
Urban Areas
14

15.  These cows are ill. Why?
15

16. 16
Photo source: AP

17. Mutual Institutional Interaction
An analysis of any
one area will yield
an incomplete
Effective
understanding.
Participation
Childcare Employment
Housing We must consider
how institutions
Education Health interact with one
another to produce
Transportation racialized
outcomes.
17

18. Structural Racialization Analysis Applied
Exclusionary Subsidized Housing
Zoning Policies
Housing
Challenges
A Housing Market
Discriminatory
That Does Not Serve
And Unfair Lending
the Population
Racial Steering
And Discrimination
18

19. Application of SR Model:
Thompson v. HUD
 In 1995, six families living in Baltimore public housing filed suit on
behalf of 14,000 other low-income families.
 In 2005, a federal court ruled that HUD had violated Title VIII of the Fair
Housing Act by failing to affirmatively further fair housing.
 HUD had effectively restricted low-income minority families to
segregated neighborhoods in the central city.
 During the 1990s, 89% of public housing units developed with HUD’s
support in the Baltimore Region were in Baltimore City.
 The majority – more than 67%– of the City’s Section 8 voucher holders
live in census tracts that are 70% - 100% Black.

21. Why Use a Structural Racialization Analysis?
What benefits do we gain from using this analysis?
What do we lose when we fail to embrace this analysis?

22. SR Analysis: Uncovers Complexities
 We understand that racism produces negative outcomes.
 When we have proof of racism, this can clearly lead to a
call for action to combat it.
 But what about when there are disparities and the
source(s) of the racism is/are unclear?
 Structural racialization often operates in this more
stealth manner.
 The call for social action against the racism often is
less urgent.
22

23. SR Analysis: Provides Context
 A structural analysis is deeply relational and timebound.
 Example: the subprime crisis. “People got bad loans.”
 A surface view solution: “Stop giving people bad loans.”
 Contextualized view (SR analysis) solution: Fix the dual
credit market, stop spatial segregation/redlining, work
toward stable home-equity building, etc.
23

24. Systems Theory Highlights Relationships

It is critical in
systems
thinking and
structural
racialization to
realize that
people are
situated
differently
inside of
existing
structures.
24 Source: Barbara Reskin. http://faculty.uwashington.edu/reskin/

25. Using A Structural Racialization
Analysis to Produce Change
 When we use race properly, we can show how structural
dynamics and failings hurt everyone – linked fate
 Begin to analyze how housing, education,
employment, transportation, health care,
and other systems interact to yield
racialized outcomes for different groups.
 Structural racialization as an analytical tool
is a particular example of a systems
approach.
25

26. “We need to look at the individual in terms of
many different relationships to
him/herself, many things in relationship to
his/her community and to the larger
community, not just in isolation. If we take this
approach seriously, it affects how we see the
world, how we experience ourselves, how we do
our work, and helps move us to a truly inclusive
paradigm.”
~john a. powell
26

27. Eliminating Structural Racialization
 A top-down approach to eliminating structural racialization
will not work.
 Community members must be involved and given a voice
to help shape a new paradigm.
 Hence, coalition and community building are key
elements in any strategy for challenging structural
racialization.
27

28. A Transformative Agenda
 Transformative change in the racial paradigm in the U.S. requires
substantive efforts in three areas:
 Talking about race: Understanding how language and
messages shape reality and the perception of reality
 Thinking about race: Understanding how framing and priming
impact information processing in both the explicit and the
implicit mind
 Linking these understandings to the way that we act on race
and how we arrange our institutions and policies
28

29. Questions or Comments?
For More Information, Visit Us Online:
www.KirwanInstitute.org
29

30. APPENDIX
The Pathway to Opportunity
Minnesota data

31. Section 2
Opportunity Matters: Space, Place, and
Life Outcomes
 “Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals
in a position to be more likely to succeed or excel.
 Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to
success:
 High-quality education
 Healthy and safe environment
 Stable housing
 Sustainable employment
 Political empowerment
 Outlets for wealth-building
 Positive social networks

32. Opportunity Matters: Neighborhoods
& Access to Opportunity
 Your environment has a profound
impact on your access to
opportunity and likelihood of
success
 High poverty areas with poor
employment, underperforming
schools, distressed housing and
public health/safety risks depress life
outcomes
 A system of disadvantage
 Many manifestations
 Urban, rural, suburban
 People of color are far more likely to
live in opportunity deprived
neighborhoods and communities

33. Factors Contributing to Residential
Segregation and Isolation
 De facto segregation and opportunity isolation
 Exclusionary zoning
 Subtle forms of housing discrimination
Racial steering, editorializing
 Fragmented school districts and court decisions
 Economic development policy, infrastructure policy and subsidized
housing policy
 Continued exurban sprawl and white flight
 Reverse redlining
Buy here pay here, rent to own, payday lending, subprime
mortgage loans

34. Spatial Segregation
 Structural racialization involves a series of exclusions, often anchored
in (and perpetuating) spatial segregation.
 Historically marginalized people of color and the very poor have been
spatially isolated from economic, political, educational and
technological power via reservations, Jim Crow, Appalachian
mountains, ghettos, barrios, and the culture of incarceration.

35. The Cumulative Impacts of Spatial, Racial and
Opportunity Segregation
Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities
Impacts on Health
School Segregation
Impacts on Educational Achievement
Exposure to crime; arrest
Transportation limitations and
other inequitable public services
Neighborhood Job segregation
Segregation
Racial stigma, other
psychological impacts
Impacts on community power
and individual assets
Adapted from figure by Barbara Reskin at: http://faculty.washington.edu/reskin/

36. Education - Minnesota
Minnesota students measuring proficient or
above on the 11th grade math test in 2008
Race/Ethnicity Percent
White 38%
Asian/Pacific Islander 31%
Latino 14%
American Indian 11%
African American 8%
36 http://www.minnesotameeting.com/uploads/EducationFactSheet.pdf

37. Education - Minnesota
“Minnesota has the 2nd largest gap in the nation between African-
American and white students on the 4th grade reading score.”
37 http://www.minnesotameeting.com/uploads/EducationFactSheet.pdf

38. Education – Minnesota & St. Cloud
2006-07 High School Graduation Rates in
Minnesota
Latinos 41%
African American 41%
American Indian 41%
Asian American 66%
White 80%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
 In the St. Cloud region, 93% of white students graduated in
the 2004-05 school year, only 63% of black students
graduated.
38 http://www.gamaliel.org/ISAIAH/RacialJusticeFocusLaunch.htm

39. Health – Low Birthweights
39 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf

40. Health – Infant Mortality

40 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf

41. Health – Uninsured

41 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf

42. Income
http://www.racialdisparity.org/files/Final%20Report-
42 Reducing%20Disparity%20%20Enhancing%20Safety.pdf

43. Minnesota: Poverty Rate by Race/Ethnicity;
MN data (2006-2007), U.S. data (2007)
MN: # MN: % US: # US: %
White 392,970 8.9% 22,631,070 11.5%
Black 88,740 41.2% 11,676,830 32.2%
Hispanic 65,110 28.0% 13,053,740 28.4%
Other 52,710 17.4% 3,847,620 19.4%
Total 599,530 11.6% 51,209,260 17.2%
Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on the Census Bureau's
March 2007 and 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS: Annual Social and Economic Supplements).
43 http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?cat=1&ind=14&rgn=25

44. State Imprisonment Rates
 Minnesota (2005):
 Black: 1,973
 White 212
 This equates to a Black/White ratio of 9.14.
 Minnesota's Black-to-White imprisonment ratio is the
twelfth highest in the nation.
 The national average Black/White ratio is 7.09.
44

45. Non-White Overrepresentation in
Prisons & Jails in Minnesota
89.4%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
54.8%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0% 28.4%
30.0%
20.0% 8.7% 7.6%
10.0% 3.5% 2.9% 1.1%
0.0%
Blacks Latinos Native Whites
Americans
Total Population Incarcerated Population
45 http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/statepopulations.html; Data source: 2000 U.S. Census

46. Subprime Loans- Home Purchase
“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009 46

47. Subprime Loans- Refinance
“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009 47

48. Relationship Between Race & Foreclosures
“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009 48

49. Subprime Lending & Foreclosures
“Communities in Crisis: Race and Mortgage Lending in the Twin Cities.” Institute on Race and Poverty. Feb. 2009 49

50. Implications of Opportunity Isolation
 Individual
 Poor economic outcomes, lower educational
outcomes, degraded asset development
 Poor health conditions, higher exposure and risk from crime
 Psychological distress, weak social and professional networks
 Community/Economy
 High social costs, distressed and stressed communities, fiscal
challenges
 Weakened civic engagement and democratic participation
 Underdeveloped human capital, poor labor outlook, poor
economic development prospects

51. Opening Pathways to Opportunity
 What happens when we affirmatively connect people to opportunity?
 After implementing economically diverse magnets schools in Wake
County, NC, African American student test scores doubled
 Children in public housing who moved to the suburbs as part of
Chicago’s Gautreaux program were twice as likely to attend college (in
comparison to their urban peers) (Rosenbaum)
 Despite the flaws in the implementation of MTO, many participants
experienced substantial psychological benefits
 Moving to opportunity for boys resulted in a 25% decline in
depressive/anxiety or dependency problems (2005)