Race Represents Nothing and Everything

While many of the institutionally racist practices in American history have been eliminated, other forms of racism persist. For example, personal racism occurs when individuals or social groups, governed by behavioral norms, support racist thinking and increase active racism. This type of racism affects an individual’s ability for social mobility as well as their equality in schools, neighborhoods and society as a whole. Drawing on examples of personal racism from social science literature and the narratives of the Facing Project in Dayton, I will show how personal racism limits social mobility as well as how acts of resistance are used to overcome it. While addressing institutional racism is a first step to creating a more equal society, addressing personal racism must also be part of the solution.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/2354/thumbnail.jp