Structural Racism

“Structural racism” is a term too easily thrown around nowadays as a substitute for careful thought. If you want to know what it really means, and why understanding its nuances is so important, Stephen Menendian’s book is the place to start. Richard Rothstein, Author, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America ""While the term “structural racism” is widely evoked in the popular political discourse of race, its precise meaning and conceptual underpinnings have remained sketchy and ill-defined. With this book, we finally have a clear, accessible, and compelling explanation of what structural racism is. Drawing upon illustrative stories of racial inequality across a wide range of institutional sites and practices, Menendian maps the enduring and intractable character of structural racism. He effectively demonstrates how opportunity in the United States is racialized and what this means for the remedies to address it."" Michael Omi, University of California, Berkeley, Co-author, Racial Formations in the United States ""This book on structural racism is much needed in a field where there is already a great deal written on race and racism. With important and consequential discussions about what it is, where we stand, and what remains to be done, Stephen tackles all these issues and many more. He helps us understand how our imprecise and confusing way of thinking about talking about race has often undermined not just our understanding but produced many incomplete and contradictory policy efforts. He shows us that in talking about race we are not just talking about past harms, but the present and the future. He also forcefully makes that case racism today cannot be understood or addressed at an individual level. In this book Stephen is not content to just define the problem, but presents concrete and realistic solutions. As the country continues, at times reluctantly and at times aggressively, struggle with race, Stephen’s work is and will be a ‘must’ read. This work is thorough, insightful, and deeply illuminating. We owe a dept of gratitude to Stephen for bringing such light to one of the more important issues in our society."" john a. powell, Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity & Inclusion, Professor of Law, African-American, & Ethnic Studies, at the University of California at Berkeley