The Iceberg Model of Racism

Culture can be compared to an iceberg, because so much goes undetected. So that within our lives and work it is often ignored. The influence of culture on the elements of communication need to be explicitly explored rather than taken for granted or ignored. In the iceberg model, see below and in video, the piece of the structure that appears above the surface represents a single “event.” Just below the surface, a deeper level of examination reveals patterns of events, or “trends.”

Racism and particularly Anti-Black Racism works in the same way as the iceberg model -  what appears on the surface can be dramatic and shocking, but what happens beneath is deep and damaging.