Racism In Institution

When studying issues of institutional racism, a primary discussion question is: Is this institution currently racist? A follow up question would be: Did the racism stem from someone with racial attitudes and beliefs? The institution could have been managed by a racist leader who then hypothetically retired or passed away, so is the institution still racist? In most cases, the answer is “yes” because the institution was formed on racial biases, policies and so on, which still have an effect on people of color today. There are many institutions, police department included, that are formed on such racial biases.
Leaders of the Black Lives Matter Movement created a campaign and website called “Campaign Zero,” in which they lay out potential solutions
with the intentions to lessen and eliminate the racist attitudes (and) or beliefs of individual police officers towards black Americans. Some possible solutions include ending minor offenses, more training for police officers, end profiling and stop and frisk, implementing that cops wear body cameras… just to name a few. The genetic thesis of institutional racism is the idea that all racism is the result of some agent with racist attitudes (and) or beliefs.
That idea supports the claim that “Yes, although the person who created the institution is long gone, the institution is racist because was formed on such racial biases which have an effect on the institution today.” The history of policing can be a directly correlated to the current practices and policies of police. There has been a history of crime in inner cities, which due to policies implemented in the past (an example would be redlining), are now primarily the home to people of color. Crime happens everywhere, in every community. People in suburban American may not be surrounded by “inner city crimes,” but there are other issues, for example a problem with higher end and more expensive drugs. There are “more crimes” in the primarily black communities because there are more police present looking for such crimes. In some cases, these racist policies that result in present day racist attitudes (and) or beliefs were implemented in the past are still current policies for institutions. In other cases, the policies may have been modified, changed or removed from an institution, but affect people of color. The history of policing and the policies directly impacts the current situation of police violence towards black
Americans.
The unintentional structural racial oppression theory is that some racism is the result of illegitimate power relations that are unintentionally, but non accidentally divided, essentially a form of implicit bias but on a larger scale at an institutional level.
Two possible solutions created by the Black Lives Matter leaders are increase in training and decrease in profiling, which are two direct examples of “implicit bias,” attitudes and beliefs that stem from the unconscious. When cops are told to stop “suspicious” residents of the community, they primarily target people of color. Tests have been conducted that prove everyone (people of color included) are instilled with some degree of implicit bias. In regards to police officers, the implicit bias can explain why they target people of color, their subconscious recognizes them as “suspicious” and “dangerous.” Police officers can not control their subconscious minds, it is an unintentional behavior. Although, these attitudes and behaviors are non accidental because such attitudes and behaviors have been deeply rooted in the minds and subconscious of the police
officers. Due to the history of policing along with the implicit bias, both the genetic thesis of institutional racism and the unintentional structural racial oppression theory can explain the excessive police violence towards black Americans.