Conceptualizing Racism Analysis

Conceptualizing Racism

Throughout Malcolm’s life, he encounters various types of racism that have been instilled into society. The conceptualizing racism aspect includes institutional, individual, and cultural racism. Malcolm experiences all forms of racism as he develops in his life. Institutional racism is a pattern of social institutions that give negative treatment to a group of people based on their race. Individual racism is a practice that reinforces inferiorization based on the beliefs, attitude, and actions of individuals. Cultural racism is the belief of superiority of cultural heritage and exists when there is a widespread acceptance of stereotypes concerning different ethnic or racial groups. As Malcolm progressed from bystander

As a student, he experienced institutional racism as his teachers repelled away the idea of his ability to become a lawyer and instead advised him to do “something with his hands” because of his skin color. When Malcolm’s father died, it was unjustly ruled a suicide. Thus, the insurance refused to provide a payout for his father’s death which is also in part due to crooked courts. The criminal justice aspects such as the police and courts also treated Malcolm vastly different when it came to committing the same crime as his white girlfriend counterpart with him being sentenced to ten years and the white girl receiving a significantly lesser sentence. In prison, blacks were treated unequal and experience abuse from guards as well as when Brother Johnson was beaten in the streets, taken to prison, and denied medical care. Individual racism was evident as Malcolm would go through grueling practices to enforce his acceptance into white culture. Malcolm would endure a painful procedure at the barber shop to make his hair acceptable for whites. Malcolm also cast away his religious, black girlfriend as preference for a white female and engaged in a racial misogyny relationship. In Malcolm’s life, cultural racism was exhibited throughout his life starting with the KKK’s murder of his father and the subsequent cover up to the unjust treatment of blacks in society. Brother Johnson showed Malcolm one of the best examples of cultural racism as he showed Malcolm how the words “black” and “white” differed in the dictionary. The word “black” had a negative connotation to it while the word “white” had a positive connotation to it. This further reinforced the concept that white is good and black is bad. The physiological toil of cultural racism is that blacks are engrained the idea that they can only do measly jobs. Malcolm become a pioneer in exposing these types of racisms and attempting to unite the