I've come to an understanding, thanks to the people here at these forums.

[Jay NotApplicable]

http://www.jlakoda.com/how-we-define-the-word-racism/

I’ve come to an understanding on something that I now believe I was wrong about. It’s about the definition of the word “racism.” It has many definitions. It can mean having negative thoughts about another person based on their race, or it could mean the systematic abuse by the government, when black people are targeted by the police simply for being black. And there are many other definitions in between. But what I’ve come to realize is that there is one definition that is the best definition. And that we should use the word racism with that definition. The definition of racism is: systemic racial discrimination. With this definition, white people do not experience racism for the most part. There are debatable issues, such as affirmative action.

The reason I think we should start using that definition is because a lot of minorities use it, and it seems to insult people when a different definition is used. And if we need a word to describe racial preconceptions, we should use the word “prejudice.”

Many people, who seem to be usually white, define racism in the same way as they define prejudice. They can basically use the terms interchangeably. And then there are many other people, who seem to be usually black, who define racism as systemic discrimination against people because of their race. They do not use racism and prejudice interchangeably. And I think their definition is what we all should use.

What I’m trying to argue, and what I’ve recently come to have the opinion of, is that it’s much more practical to use the terms racism and prejudice as separate words with different definitions. I think it’s practical because a large group of people already use those terms in such a way. And if we were to instead continue to use them to basically mean the same thing, then we would need to introduce a whole new word to describe systemic racial discrimination. And since there is nobody who currently uses that yet-to-be-invented new term, it would be unreasonable to think we should come up with such a word. That’s simply not how language is developed.

Another reason it would be practical to simply use the terms racism and prejudice to mean two different things, is because using them interchangeably seems to ignite intense negative feelings regarding racism, and make a lot of people angry. And I really don’t see how that is at all helpful. I think we should instead just stop stubbornly hanging onto our old definition of racism.

[Vanguard1917]

I also think it's a useful distinction. Racism implies a systemic problem, in the main. Individuals' prejudices can be - and often are - rooted in the systemic problem, but not necessarily. For example, i'm sure that in the feudal era of the middle ages lots of people had prejudiced views of different 'races', but to what extent did systematic oppression of those 'races' exist? Racism is a fairly modern development, linked with the rise of bourgeois nationalism, imperialism, international mass labour migration (forced or voluntary) and anti-immigration laws.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Whatever terms are used, it's an important distinction for practice and related ideological reasons. The ideological conflation of prejudice and systemic racism in "post-racial" times in effect hides systemic racism. On the one hand too much of a focus on individual bigotry without regard to the Systemic or social aspects obscures any real meaningful ways to combat the mechanisms and systems which reproduce regular discrimination on any level. Typically, the liberal answer to prejudice-racism is "edumagication for 'those' backward rednecks who just need to get with it". Ironically in my experience "enlightened" liberals who show no outward prejudice can also be the most racist assholes in terms of the policies and politics they support... And have elitist attitudes to boot. Racism just becomes "human nature" in this view and so it's up to the enlightened to tell everyone else how to not be racist.

For people who openly or tacitly support white supremacy or homophobia or sexism, the prejudice-racism conflation allows them to argue that any reforms to support poor people or oppressed ethnic groups is presented as "racism" against the non-oppressed.

But even for people who are sincere about not wanting a racist society, focusing on individual or interpersonal aspects can't help us see the social buttresses that permit and promote certain kinds of repression. Privilege checking or just not being ignorant as I call it, might help people gain a picture of things or be more sensitive and receptive to the ways racism impacts people on a personal level, but alone it won't allow people to attack the systemic things that hold racism in place.