The aim of this paper was to reflect on the concept of institutional racism and its appositeness for thinking about Brazilian social contexts; and on how this relates to the actions, demands and disputes of the contemporary black movement towards the public authorities. Institutional racism acts diffusely within institutions' and organizations' everyday routines, such that it leads to inequality in the distribution of services, benefits and opportunities to different segments of the population, from a racial point of view. This paper indicates that, for institutional racism to be deconstructed, public policies promoting deracialization are needed, as well as academic reflections on how these mechanisms operate. In the healthcare field, they can be assessed as biopower devices, since they manage the population's lives from a racial perspective. There is a requirement for qualitative research with an ethnographic approach that reflects on how these mechanisms operate within institutions' everyday routine.
Racism; Black movement; Public policies; Biopower; Health