Racism and racial discrimination

Our engagement

A few definitions

• Racism

  Racism = race prejudice + social and institutional power

  Racism = a system of advantage based on race
  Racism = a system of oppression based on race
  Racism = a white supremacy system

   

  Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. Racism involves one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices.

   

  Source:  “What Is Racism?” − Dismantling Racism Works (dRworks) web workbook.

• Racialization

  Racialization is the very complex and contradictory process through which groups come to be designated as being of a particular “race” and on that basis subjected to differential and/or unequal treatment. Put simply, “racialization [is] the process of manufacturing and utilizing the notion of race in any capacity.” While white people are also racialized, this process is often rendered invisible or normative to those designated as white. As a result, white people may not see themselves as part of a race but still maintain the authority to name and racialize “others.”

   

  Source:  Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, “Racialization” (2018) / Calgary Anti-Racism Education, “CARED Glossary” (2020).

• Structural racism

  1. The normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics – historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal – that routinely advantage Whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color. Structural racism encompasses the entire system of White domination, diffused and infused in all aspects of society including its history, culture, politics, economics, and entire social fabric. Structural racism is more difficult to locate in a particular institution because it involves the reinforcing effects of multiple institutions and cultural norms, past and present, continually reproducing old and producing new forms of racism. Structural racism is the most profound and pervasive form of racism – all other forms of racism emerge from structural racism.

  2. For example, we can see structural racism in the many institutional, cultural, and structural factors that contribute to lower life expectancy for African American and Native American men, compared to white men. These include higher exposure to environmental toxins, dangerous jobs and unhealthy housing stock, higher exposure to and more lethal consequences for reacting to violence, stress, and racism, lower rates of health care coverage, access, and quality of care, and systematic refusal by the nation to fix these things.

   

  Source:

  1. Chronic Disparity: Strong and Pervasive Evidence of Racial Inequalities by Keith Lawrence, Aspen Institute on Community Change, and Terry Keleher, Applied Research Center, for the Race and Public Policy Conference (2004).

  2. Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building by Maggie Potapchuk, Sally Leiderman, Donna Bivens, and Barbara Major (2005).

Our activities

• 17 March 2026 : As part of the Week against Racism, Panel discussion (in French) "Racisme anti‑musulman et corps : Quels vécus, quels imaginaires ?“
• 24 March 2026 : As part of the Week against Racism and in collaboration with the Film Club: screening of the documentary “Je suis noires” by Rachel M’Bon and Juliana Fanjul.
• TBA : Guided tours "Sur les traces du colonialisme…“. In collaboration with the Anny Klawa‑Morf Foundation, these guided tours explore the colonial past of the City and Canton of Fribourg.

• Our activities 2025

  16 and 23 June as well as 8 and 29 September 2025 : Guided tours "Sur les traces du colonialisme…“. In collaboration with the Anny Klawa‑Morf Foundation, these guided tours explore the colonial past of the City and Canton of Fribourg.