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Dismantling institutional racism: theory and action

  • Original Paper
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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Despite a strong commitment to promoting social change and liberation, there are few community psychology models for creating systems change to address oppression. Given how embedded racism is in institutions such as healthcare, a significant shift in the system’s policies, practices, and procedures is required to address institutional racism and create organizational and institutional change. This paper describes a systemic intervention to address racial inequities in healthcare quality called dismantling racism. The dismantling racism approach assumes healthcare disparities are the result of the intersection of a complex system (healthcare) and a complex problem (racism). Thus, dismantling racism is a systemic and systematic intervention designed to illuminate where and how to intervene in a given healthcare system to address proximal and distal factors associated with healthcare disparities. This paper describes the theory behind dismantling racism, the elements of the intervention strategy, and the strengths and limitations of this systems change approach.

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Notes

  1. Dismantling Racism Works is a group of community organizers who have pioneered adapting anti-racist organizing principles and strategies to organizations and institutions. Dismantling Racism Works also examines if and how the organization supports the empowerment of People of Color and anti-racist White allies.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Health Scholars Program (now called the W.K. Kellogg Health Disparities Program) and by federal grants: 1-U48-DP-000055, R06/CCR421449-01, and R25GM058641-06. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Institutes of Health. We gratefully acknowledge Julie Allen for her editorial assistance and the work of Dismantling Racism Works (formerly Changework), the Rural County Public Health Department Dismantling Racism Change Team, the Cancer Care and Racial Equity Study team, and The Partnership Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights Drive SPH II, Ann Arbor, MI, 481092029, USA

    Derek M. Griffith

  2. Association for the Study and Development of Community, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

    Mondi Mason

  3. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Michael Yonas & Eugenia Eng

  4. Rural County Public Health Department, Pittsboro, NC, USA

    Vanessa Jeffries

  5. Dismantling Racism Works, Smyrna, GA, USA

    Suzanne Plihcik

  6. The Partnership Project, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Suzanne Plihcik & Barton Parks

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  1. Derek M. Griffith
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  2. Mondi Mason
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  3. Michael Yonas
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  4. Eugenia Eng
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  5. Vanessa Jeffries
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  6. Suzanne Plihcik
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  7. Barton Parks
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Correspondence to Derek M. Griffith.

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Griffith, D.M., Mason, M., Yonas, M. et al. Dismantling institutional racism: theory and action. Am J Community Psychol 39, 381–392 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9117-0

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