I learned it in school as "Prejudice based on race". I learned it after school as "Discrimination based on Race.". I learned it on the Blogs, and therefore from several dictionaries as "The belief that races have different characteristics that cause some races to be
superior to others".
Using the
grey, I've settled on "Discrimination based on Race". The
first is a more general version of the third. But if it is just a "thought", it can be talked about, discussed, and eradicated. Its when it is acted upon that people become harmed.
So it is the action of discriminating based on that racial prejudice that I call racism.
First, it is applying power. Some people believe only those in power can discriminate -- it sounds like a logical fallacy. Instead of
corner casing when the
charge of racism is
valid depending on some hypothetical power difference, lets just say it happens when someone applies power to
act on a prejudice. The second, is it matches with the very pejorative connotation it has -- I hate the thought of punishing thought, or of people not being able to talk in general, or of people finding actual difference based on historical events and selection. Instead, by using
definition 2, we can break it down to 'regardless of what you think, were you fair'. And if the answer is yes, there was no racism, even if there was a racial prejudice.
Conclusion: Racism is *discrimination based on race*.
Some feel Affirmative Action is a
positive application of Racism; others, because of the soft bigotry of
low expectations, consider Affirmative Action as an
example of the negatives of all Racism.
