This book explores how racism lives and how racism is lived. Earlier chapters provide the theoretical foundation for the later chapters on contemporary racial issues. Collectively they show change, continuity, and diversity of racial thinking and outcomes.

Living Racism is based on the premise that race and racism are well-entrenched elements of US society. The contributors of this volume argue that race and racism are more than mere concepts; instead, they see and treat these as part of the fabric that constitutes and organizes everyday life. Consequently, race and racism are maintained through structures such as social institutions (e.g., schools, criminal justice system, media, etc.) and are carried by individual actors through racial ideologies and a racial etiquette (beliefs, practices, traditions, and customs) that inform how people relate to and interact with one another (or not). As expressed throughout this book, the notion of living racism is twofold. On the one hand, living racism denotes the ways in which racism is embodied and active, much like a living organism. On the other hand, living racism connects with the ways that people must navigate racism in their individual and collective lives.