Adding insult to injury: How focus on intent diverts attention from racism and discrimination

What role does intent play in racism and discrimination and what does it matter? In this article, I discuss some understandings of racism (structural, individual, ideological), and explore how these may influence identification and validation of discrimination. In particular, I look at how the notion of intent in this regard functions to muddy identification and contestation of racism, and support powerlessness for targets of (unintended) racism and discrimination exchanges.
I argue that emphasis on intent, in combination with other factors such as the inequality and power asymmetry inherent to racism and racial discrimination, limits and problematizes how racism and discrimination are addressed and contested. I discuss how directing focus to intention rather than to the impact of discrimination on targets of discrimination contributes to decentering the target’s experience of racism and racial discrimination. This can exacerbate discrimination and function to sustain and perpetuate discriminatory and racist structures.