Race and Racism in the United States

Race is defined by most scholars as a social construct-- a designation recognized within society that comes with a set of rules and assumptions. Within this page, you will find resources that will help you define and explore key terms that explain how race operates as a construct within our society. 

Black thinkers began laying out the terms that structure our critical conversations about race long before Black Lives Matter brought it into the mainstream. In this box, you'll find key texts by Black writers that laid the foundations for today's movements.

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Lots of folks talk about white gaze, but what does that really mean? The white gaze is the centering of white experience and lives as an invisible, neutral norm, impacting institutional structures through attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors. In this box, you will find resources that help to define the white gaze and explore how it impacts our lives, our work, and our understanding of each other.

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There are some who understand that explicit discrimination is a problem, and therefore asserted that we should look past color to only see a person’s character and actions. While it comes from a desire to treat everyone equally, this colorblind ideology prevents the recognition of systemic barriers (such as underserved school districts, disenfranchised communities, cultural norms and mores, residential redlining, and so much more).  Colorblind ideology perpetuates the white gaze by removing differences and assuming instead that all people have the privilege and opportunity that white people do.

Recommended Reading Lists

A common question that people have is what is the difference between "not being racist "and being "Antiracist." Racism is a complex system of oppression rather than simply the action of one person. One way to define Antiracism as the intentional act of dismantling or refusing to participate in the system of racism.