Institutionalized Racism is the process of purposely discriminating against certain groups of people through the use of biased laws or practices. Often, institutionalized racism is subtle and manifests itself in seemingly innocuous ways, but its effects are anything but subtle. An example of this type of racism is the redlining of districts to keep certain people from moving in to a new neighborhood, pervasive in the financial industry in the 1950s and 60s.

Those accepted, established, evident, visible, and respected forces, social arrangements, institutions, structures, policies, precedents and systems of social relations that operate and are manipulated in such a way as to allow, support, or acquiesce to acts of individual racism and to deprive certain racially identified categories within a society a chance to share, have equal access to, or have equal opportunity to acquire those things, material and nonmaterial, that are defined as desirable and necessary for rising in an hierarchical class society while that society is dependent, in part, upon that group they deprive for their labor and loyalty. Institutional racism is more subtle, less visible, and less identifiable but no less destructive to human life and human dignity than individual acts of racism

More often than not, reverse racism is in the form of giving special benefits or opportunities to people who belong to a group which has been under privaleged in the past. In effect, you are essentially committing a racist act by giving preference to one person over another because of their race, religion, or ethnicity, rather than their personal merit, skills, or knowledge.

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in character or ability.

2. Racial Prejudice + Power = Racism

Many people serious about the study of racism define it more strictly to mean the combination of racial prejudice + power. In other words, only the dominant group in a society can be racist because they have the power to oppress others.
Marginalized groups of people can have racial prejudice towards members of the dominant group, but since they lack the power to oppress that group, it cannot be accurately called "racism."
In most cases racism includes the social, political, and economic advantage of one group in relation to others.

See Wikipedia's article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism for more information.

1. an act of racism by a minority, towards a majority.
2. an act of racism on a race which was previously suppressed by that race, or was a target of racism by the race in the past.

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in character or ability.

2. Racial Prejudice + Power = Racism

People serious about the study of racism define it more strictly to mean the combination of racial prejudice + power. In other words, only the dominant group in a society can be racist because they have the power to oppress others.

Marginalized groups of people can have racial prejudice towards members of the dominant group, (say, a black man calling a white man a cracker) but since they lack the power to oppress that group, it cannot be accurately called "racism."
In most cases, racism includes the social, political, and economic advantage of one group in relation to others.

SSee Wikipedia's article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism for more information.

1. The belief that "race" accounts for differences in character or ability.

2. Racial Prejudice + Power = Racism

People serious about the study of racism define it more strictly to mean the combination of racial prejudice + power. In other words, only the dominant group in a society can be racist because they have the power to oppress others. This forces the dominant group to recognize the dangerous side of their position of power and tends to make them upset. Some will avoid this issue all together and say that they are "colorblind", ignoring the very real effects of racial discrimination.

Marginalized groups of people can have racial prejudice towards members of the dominant group, (i.e., a black man calling a white man a cracker) but since they lack the power to oppress that group, it cannot be accurately called "racism." White people in America have not historically been called "crackers" and then been enslaved, denied work, imprisoned...

The results of people of targeted racial groups (Blacks, Lations/Hispanics, Asians, Native) believing, acting on or enforcing the dominant (White) system of racist discrimination and oppression. Horizontal racism can occur between members of the same racial group or between members of different, targeted racial groups.