The problem of structural racism is neither exceptional nor dependent on intentional discrimination. The assumption that when racism manifests, it is an unintended departure from, rather than an expression of, settled expectations, cultural norms, or institutional practices is neither borne out by data nor by lived experience.

One of the enduring features of racial inequity in the United States is the deployment of claims or aspirations to colorblindness -- the idea that people ‘don’t see’ or ‘should not see’ racial differences -- which has the effect of submerging concrete racial disparities. Being race conscious begins with the recognition that although racial categories themselves are made-up (‘socially constructed’), racial hierarchies built on acceptance of these categories do exist. Moreover, due to their long history and purpose to distribute economic and social privileges unevenly in the United States, social relations are often organized around these racial hierarchies.

Fashioning racial remedies and social justice approaches that work requires ‘historicizing’ – searching historical facts that illuminate how the legacy of overt racial discrimination against non-white people – has shaped the issue and the location being examined over the years. However, it is not enough to look back in time, it is also critical to ‘contextualize;’ that is, to examine how the historical racial disparities fit into existing or contemporary social dynamics related to racial oppression (i.e. racial discrimination in jobs, schools, housing, the Courts, and social relations).

One of the greatest frustrations for people of color and residents of all races who seek equity and justice in their communities is observing that public entities may only provide a surface solution to racial oppression due to a one-dimensional understanding of the racial harms. Intersectionality refers to a method of analysis and diagnosis that recognizes that race does not operate alone from other aspects of our identities (such as gender, sexual orientation, or residency status). Correspondingly, an intersectional analysis helps to uncover how interlocking systems of oppression act on multiple stigmas to reproduce exclusion and discrimination and undermine social justice remedies.

Race has been intimately tied to the distribution of rights, resources, and privileges in the United States, but these rights and privileges have also been tied to oppression based on other dimensions of identity, such as class. As such, remedies to achieve racial equity will not be as effective as they can be without addressing inequities based on other forms of social hierarchy.

From desegregation of schools to the diversification of public and private entities, the ‘interest-convergence principle’ reveals that, despite the commonly held belief that racial remedies reflect an embrace of racial justice, racial remedies are more likely to be adopted when they can show that they advance a larger interest of the dominant society.

Public policy makers seeking to craft remedies to systemic racism can produce more effective results when they affirmatively and consistently generate data, interpretations, and strategies from Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC). The knowledge and analysis that these individuals bring to such processes helps provide a more nuanced diagnosis of practices that produce racial harms and help to shape more precise solutions to address them.