Institutional Racism

Effects of Institutional Racism on Minority Families

The continued influence of institutional racism on policies and practices have had negative impacts on minority families. One type of institutional racism is housing inequalities between blacks and whites, which increases maternal and child deaths (SmithBattle, 2019). Adequate housing assures families good health and quality living. However, discriminatory housing policies have segregated minority families, creating a foundation for inequity. assistance.  They have unequal access to housing resources, which exposes minority families to reduced health and poor well-being. Minority families live in neighborhoods with a deteriorating housing stock, which worsens their health. Redlining housing practices exposes minority families to high crime rates and marginalized poverty, affecting their physical and mental well-being (Zhou, Bemanian, and Beyer, 2017). Unlike the whites who are guaranteed housing loans to buy new homes after a mortgage crisis, minority families are forced to homelessness or expensive housing. 

Housing discrimination policies produce inequities on homeownership and accumulation of wealth, which affect access to resources, interaction with the criminal justice system, and income levels.  Institutional racism in housing continues to affect minority families’ pursuit of greater quality of life through unequal access to housing resources, high crime rates, and inequities in the criminal justice system. Unequal access to housing resources leads to underfunding and the development of neighborhoods occupied by minority families (Assari, 2018). Minority families are allocated underdeveloped neighborhoods that do not qualify for federal housing These neighborhoods are undeveloped and contain high levels of environmental pollutants, which are detrimental to their health.  The neighborhoods also have high crime rates such as theft, which are often blamed on minority families, leading to unreasonable arrests and disciplinary actions from the criminal justice system.  Institutional racism can lead to continued poverty and inequality and set a dangerous standard of discrimination in institutions meant to enhance racial equality, which eventually fosters equal treatment of minority families.

References

Assari, S. (2018). Unequal gain of equal resources across racial groups. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 7(1), 1.

SmithBattle, L. (2019). Housing trajectories of teen mothers and their families over 28 years. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(2), 258.

Zhou, Y., Bemanian, A., & Beyer, K. M. (2017). Housing discrimination, residential racial segregation, and colorectal cancer survival in southeastern Wisconsin.