Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on race. It operates at multiple levels: individual, institutional, and systemic. Individual racism is one person acting on racial bias. Institutional racism is embedded in policies and practices. Systemic racism is the cumulative effect across institutions and history.

Racism is not just about intent. A policy can be racist in effect even if no one intended harm. Redlining, voter ID laws, and unequal school funding are examples. They produce racial disparities regardless of individual attitudes.

Levels of racism

• Interpersonal: slurs, violence, microaggressions
• Institutional: hiring, housing, healthcare, policing
• Systemic: wealth gaps, health disparities, mass incarceration
• Internalized: negative beliefs about one's own racial group

Racism damages health, shortens lives, and limits opportunity. It also harms the perpetrators, distorting their understanding of reality. Dismantling it requires policy change, not just education. But attitudes matter too. Laws can change behavior before hearts and minds follow.