The 4 Prominent Layers of Racism
The substance in the four layers of the cake.
Most people understand racism by looking at it from just one angle and through a narrow lens. Racism is often understood as being an expression of a system of oppression which has its roots in a history of power and the subordination of ”non-white” groups.
While this is true, that is only the peak of the colossal iceberg that lies deep beneath it. Racism should be viewed as a system that complements and operates through other systems of oppression.
Society needs to view racism at the systemic, structural, interpersonal and internalised level because that is what is holding our progression at a prolonged halt. All four of these layers pile up on top of one another, just like layers you would find in between a cake. Building up and adding on to one another to create an even larger issue.
The icing in between the cake holds the racism that we see in everyday life together, glueing them together so that they will never separate and prohibiting change and improved conditions for BIPOC in society.
The icing can be looked at as structural racism. It’s made up of those who do not want to acknowledge that racism exists at all these levels, along with those who continue to discriminate at all four levels.
