In a broad sense, racism refers to prejudice or discrimination against someone based on his or her race; however, racism can be manifested in several forms, including interpersonal and institutional racism. Interpersonal racism refers to everyday actions taken by the group in power to exclude, restrict, or otherwise harm a minority group (Marger 20). This form of racism can be overt, such as avoidance, exclusion and rejection, verbal attacks, and physical attacks (21), or can be more subtle, such as stereotyping and being insensitive to cultures and subcultures (22). On the other hand, institutional racism is discrimination that is built into, enforced, and maintained by the various institutions of societies (3). Although institutional racism …show more content…
The practice of redlining involved looking at the racial composition of neighborhoods and marking those with minority groups as undesirable, denying services such as loans and raising housing prices and causing a significant number of white people moved to the suburbs. The urban renewal program involved the demolition of numerous housing units with the promise that they would be rebuilt and that people would be relocated in various development projects. However, the promise of rebuilding was unfulfilled as many homeowners in low-income neighborhoods lost their homes and neighborhoods affected became more congested. Lastly, blockbusting involved real estate agents convincing white property owners to sell their homes, preying on the fear that racial minorities would move into the neighborhood, and essentially promoting white flight (Feagin and Sikes 244). Although these policies are no longer prevalent, the legacies they have left behind contribute to institutional and interpersonal racism today. Respondents from Feagin and Sikes’ book have experienced negative responses from white neighbors (252), discrimination from lenders (249), and illegal quota systems (232). In the case of residential segregation, it is clear how institutional racism stemmed from, as well as contributed to interpersonal racism, simply analyzing cases over the past several