All Racism Is Institutional

Individual acts of racism are often seen as unconnected to wider society. They are put down as mere ignorance, bigotry and a failure to be “politically correct”. These individual acts are normally associated with working class white people - you know, the poor chavs and rednecks who just can’t seem to learn how to be accepting. However, it needs to be understood that these acts of so-called ignorance are merely microcosms of state beliefs and practices.

Although often appearing to condemn these overt expressions, Western states actually benefit from individual acts of racism, as these acts perpetuate the global status quo. By creating a racist population through the education system, the media and political institutions, the state has been able to outsource its openly racist rhetoric to paint a new visage of benevolence and tolerance. A cursory glance, however, shows that Western states still operate on a fully functional racist framework, explaining why the majority of the world’s poor population exists with darker skin. In reality, these so-called individual acts of racism are completely informed by and dependent on the institutions of Western society.

These institutions not only create and perpetuate racism but are completely dependent on racism to function. For example, the criminal justice system of the USA (as well as Britain, France and Brazil) depends on criminalising Black people. Much of the criminal justice system is owned by private companies, many of whom receive thousands per year from the US government for each inmate they process. Many transnational corporations, such as Nike, Victoria’s Secret, Microsoft and McDonald’s, also depend on prison labour to produce their goods. In the case of the USA, thanks to the 13th amendment, slavery in prison is completely legal. So the imprisoning, and subsequent enslaving, of Black people produces hundreds of millions of dollars for the US economy. This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are dependent on the criminalisation of Black people: police officers, lawyers, judges, psychologists, prison guards, wardens, doctors and more. Without racism, these institutions would collapse.

It is, therefore, necessary to instil racism into the minds of the general population, many of whom will carry out the protocols of the institution. Having racist police officers means the structural framework of the police department remains intact. The so-called individual acts of racist police brutality are completely directed by the institution, as it is the institution that informs the individual who to criminalise.

Even when we look at societies in which the white population is numerically low relative to the Black population, the majority of power and wealth is still held in their hands. The most blatant example of this is South Africa, where economic apartheid is still very much alive. Approximately 72% of South Africa’s Black population earns less than $1.50 a day, compared to less than 1% of the white population.

Looking at societies that are almost exclusively Black, we still see this phenomenon. Power is held with those of lighter skin, or by the class that directly serves the interests of the white supremacist system. This is seen throughout the Caribbean and Africa, with Haiti being a prime example. A Lebanese, Middle Eastern and European elite control almost the entire islands wealth, with the USA and France their political and financial backers. It is because of these power dynamics, and the historical and present expatriation of wealth, that wherever you find Black people you will also find poverty, ghettos, state brutality and imprisonment. This racist system is why the continent of Africa, which holds the richest reserves of natural resources required for our phones, computers and vehicles, is home to the world’s poorest.

Racism is a tool for subjugation that cannot be exercised without institutional power. In a globalised society in which Europeans have imposed their worldview on everyone else, Black people are rendered powerless. A white person has the power to lynch a Black child on camera and get away with it simply due to their uniform because their institutions allow it.

Freedom cannot be produced in a fundamentally racist society. These institutions can only produce what they were constructed to produce: wealth from the exploitation of Black people and Africa. Every aspect of white society is stacked against the Black masses, despite a few individuals who have been given a seat at the white supremacist table. When the public is convinced that Black people are a threat or problem, they pave the way for the atrocities committed against our people to go unchecked and even supported. Integration into these societies cannot ever overturn the system and will inevitably lead to our downfall.

Racism is in the fabric of this system, which is rife with brutality, rape and murder. As long as this system exists, so will Black suffering. Our freedom and the freedom of those who are suffering most does not lie within the confines of this global system. It lies in dismantling it and building a world that represents the interests of the masses.