Institutional Racism

As we come to the close of black history month, I thought it fitting to write about the subject we are all so comfortable talking about: institutionalized racism and the disparities in educational achievement it, too often, breeds.

Institutionalized racism is so prevalent and entrenched — even invisible in many ways — in this country that it seems normal to many. Practices in the educational system are merely a microcosm of it in action.

Progress takes time, sometimes an inordinate amount of time, to simply first make a wrong, right. But it is a necessary step to move forward. Perhaps, that is a good way to put into perspective the announcement today by the Smithsonian Institution that it will build a National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).