School News
The Institute on American Racism and Social Justice Hosts Luncheon
On November 14, 2005, The Institute on American Racism and Social Justice hosted a luncheon at the School of Social Policy & Practice’s research building at 3815 Walnut Street. Luncheon guests learned about the Institute’s founding, mission, and vision, while hearing from speakers about the Native American, Asian American, and African American perspectives. The Institute’s founders, SP2 professor Walter Palmer and Black Men at Penn president Chad Lassiter, MSW’01, see the day when it will be a worldwide resource on issues of racism.
This center on research, education, and social change will examine American institutions such as slavery, banking, education, religion, housing, government, and legal and judicial systems (to name a few), as it gathers information on institutional practices of racism.
The Institute focuses on the relationship between North American European culture and three other racial populations—indigenous (Indian) Native, African, and Asian groups who were transplanted in America. However, the Institute also recognizes that other groups experience discrimination on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, language, etc., and plans to conduct a comparative analysis between American racism and these other forms of discrimination.
Because of its partnership with the School of Social Policy & Practice and its collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, the Institute on American Racism and Social Justice is in a unique position to work with the greater Philadelphia community to fight racism. One of the Institute’s goals is that it will become a national model for other universities and communities who wish to partner together in the fight against racism.