Institutional racism, or structural racism, is a guiding theme of the book. In the Introduction, Taylor identifies institutional racism as the best framework for understanding Black experience, especially Black poverty, in a country like the United States that has peddled a public image of democracy, meritocracy, and equal opportunity. She explains that the term “institutional racism” was introduced by Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton in their 1967 book, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Institutional racism locates the source of Black deprivation in “the policies, programs, and practices of public and private institutions” (8). It’s an important framework because, as Taylor demonstrates, there is a tendency among the political establishment and the economic elite to absolve themselves of responsibility for Black hardship by locating its source in perceived Black inferiority, culture, and family structure, in addition to narrowing the definition of racism to the intentions and actions of individuals.

Throughout the text, Taylor provides evidence of institutional racism embedded in the policies and practices of the United States. For example, In Chapter 1, she cites Ira Katznelson on “the uneven distribution of postwar riches” (31). Katznelson’s book, When Affirmative Action Was White, discusses the initial exclusion of Black Americans from New Deal programs, urban disinvestment, and Black exclusion from suburban housing where federal subsidies were being provided in the aftermath of World War II.