Institutional Racism

            Racism is described by the Gale encyclopedia as the belief that members of one's own race are superior physically, mentally, culturally, and morally to members of other races. Racist beliefs provide the foundation for extending special rights, privileges, and opportunities to the race that is believed to be superior, and to withholding rights, privileges, and opportunities from the races believed to be inferior. No scientific evidence supports racist claims, although racism exists in all countries and cultures. The definition of racism has evolved to describe prejudice against a group of people based on the belief that human groups are unequal genetically, and that members of some racial groups are therefore inferior. Sociologists distinguish between individual racism, a term describing attitudes and beliefs of individuals, and institutional racism, which denotes governmental and organizational policies that restrict minority groups or demean them by the application of stereotypes. While policies are being to.
             corrected or eliminate institutional racism and individual racism however they still persists.
             We can see that institutional racism exist in law enforcement here are some examples: .
             Almost 73 percent of motorists stopped and searched on a major New Jersey highway in 1999 were African-Americans, even though African-Americans made up less than 18 percent of traffic violators. (Driving While black by Kenneth Meeks, copyright 2000, Broadway Books.).
             In March 2001, an African-American Washington, DC police officer was beaten by White DC police officers that mistook him for a carjacking suspect. The African-American officer witnessed the carjacking and called in the report, including a description of the carjacker and the stolen car. After chasing and cornering the suspect, he was pulled from his car by the White officers, had his legs kicked out from beneath him and was hit on the head with a weapon.