Systemic Racism: Patterns of Black Disadvantage and White Advantage Linked to Slavery

In this Article, I engage systemic racism in two ways. First, I discuss some of its current manifestations, Part II. In particular, I will offer powerful examples of systemic racism, Section A, and explain the link between slavery and extant systemic racism, Section B. Next, I analyze the forces in this country that sustain systemic racism well into the post-civil rights period, Part III. I will spend a fair amount of time examining socio-psychological paradigms and institutional practices or policies that perpetuate or contribute to manifestations of systemic racism.

The former consists of various forms of racial bias, Section A, and the latter focuses on a few significant legal institutions, Section B. The question of what to do about systemic racism is important. I do not, however, have enough space to address that question here.