I agree that Ms. Narayan was targeted by institutional racism, something I have not had to face. I'm not so sure that everything she suffered was due to institutional racism, or even individual bigotry. I suspect--though I will never know for sure--that part of what she suffered had exactly the same origins as what you and I and so many other friends suffered in school.

I don't in any way want to minimize the evils of institutional racism.

However, I do think that when there's more than one cause for a problem, identifying them all can be valuable.

As a metaphor, I kept a food diary for more than two years without identifying the source of some gastrointestinal problems I was having. Later, when my sister did a web-search on short pinkies, I experimented with a no-wheat diet--with good results, until I started buying stuff made gluten-free, and increased my corn intake, and the symptoms came back. It wasn't until I stopped eating wheat AND corn that I could see consistent improvement.

Looking back, and also having looked at so very many ingredients lists (and put thousands of and jars back on the grocery store's shelves), it's no wonder I couldn't figure out the problem!

Likewise, I think if we try to address only one cause of the problems bullied kids face, we will not be able to make things better.