When policies and practices put people who are not of the dominant race at a disadvantage. This happens in government, business, education at all levels, news and entertainment media and other systems. Housing policies that turn away single parents, parents with more children or people with lower incomes can be forms of institutional racism. Hiring and promotion patterns can reflect institutional racism.
It was a factor in a wave of protests on college campuses that began in 2015. School discipline systems that disproportionately send Black students into the criminal justice system have been called “the school-to-prison pipeline.” When people say an institution is racist, they may not be referring to intent, but to the structures and policies of the institution.
See systemic racism, White privilege.
