What is Systemic Racism? [VIDEOS]

"What Is Systemic Racism?" is an 8-part video series that shows how racism shows up in our lives across institutions and society: Wealth Gap, Employment, Housing Discrimination, Government Surveillance, Incarceration, Drug Arrests, Immigration Arrests, Infant Mortality… yes, systemic racism is really a thing. 

Featuring Jay Smooth, produced by Kat Lazo. Follow online with #SystemicRacismIs.

Rinku Sen President of Race Forward & Publisher of Colorlines introduces the series:


Wealth Gap

Did you know that in 2010 Black Americans made up 13% of the population but had only 2.7% of the country's wealth? That the median net worth for a white family was $134,000, but the median net worth for a Hispanic family was $14,000, and for a Black family it was $11,000? That the median wealth for a single white woman has been measured at $41,000, while for Hispanic women it was $140, and for Black women, $120?  Did you know that? Do you know what that's called? Systemic Racism, and yes, it's really a thing.

Sources: 1#, 2, 3, 4



Did you know that no matter what else is going on in America, year in and year out for the last 60 years, Black unemployment is always about twice as high as white unemployment? And even if you just look at Black college graduates, they're still almost twice as likely to be unemployed as white college graduates? And if you just apply for a job with a white sounding name, you're 50% more likely to get a callback than with a Black sounding name?

Sources: 12$3


Housing Discrimination


Sources: 1, 2


Government Surveillance

You probably know that today's technology lets the government watch what we do and track where we go more than ever before, so much that privacy's almost a thing of the past. But did you know the government watches some of us a lot more than others depending on where we come from? That as recently as 2011 the NYPD was exposed for targeting their surveillance specifically at what they called "ancestries of  interest" (Indian, Banglasdesh, Pakistani, Guyanese, Egyptian, Lebanese). Using our tax dollars to spy on these people's everyday lives just going to the barbershop and the bookstore, and singling them out for this constant invasion of privacy based on nothing but where their ancestors were born? 

Sources: 1, 2



Did you know that back in the 80s there were less than half a million people in the US prison system, but now, thanks to the war on drugs, there are more than 2 million? That out of every 100,000 Americans about 700 are incarcerated, but out of every 100,000 Black men over 4,000 are incarcerated? And one of the many effects of that trend is that combined with felony disenfranchisement laws, it means 13% of Black American men are denied their right to vote?

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4


Drug Arrests


Sources: 1, 2, 3


Immigration Policy

Have you ever wondered why, even though undocumented people come to the US from all over the world, the face of undocumented persons is always assumed to be from Central America or South America? And our heavy-handed enforcement policies, that ruin lives and tear families apart every day, are focused almost entirely on the Southern US border, and the Hispanic people of color who cross that border?

Sources: 1, 2#, 3


Infant Mortality

Did you know that even though America’s infant mortality rate has gone way down in the last 50 years, Black babies are still almost 2.5 times more likely to die before reaching their 1st birthday? Did you know that Black mothers are 3 three times as likely to die during childbirth, that Black and Hispanic mothers are more than twice as likely not to receive proper prenatal care and Native American mothers are more than 3 times less likely to receive proper care?

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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