MSNBC’s Chris Matthews defined racism on Monday as the belief that “one race – whites – should rule all others.” Of course this sparked a firestorm of criticism that Matthews did not have an accurate definition as whites are not the only group that can engage in racism.
For me this points to the fact that even in 2013, we are not clear as a society what racism really means. I also purport that there are many other concepts that relate to diversity, inclusion an equality that the masses are not clear about. And if we don’t know what they are, we cannot effectively alleviate them!
For me racism is an intentional action by an individual or group to disadvantage another individual or group based solely on the individual or group’s race. It gets even more complex, as there is not a consistent, clear definition of race today as scientists have pretty much rejected the anthropological definitions. So racism might really be “ethnic-ism” or “colorism”.
I also like Vernellia R. Randall’s definition of racism:
“Racism is both overt and covert, and it takes three closely related forms: individual, institutional, and systemic. Individual racism consists of overt acts by individuals that cause death, injury, destruction of property, or denial of services or opportunity. Institutional racism is more subtle but no less destructive. Institutional racism involves polices, practices, and procedures of institutions that have a disproportionately negative effect on racial minorities’ access to and quality of goods, services, and opportunities. Systemic racism is the basis of individual and institutional racism; it is the value system that is embedded in a society that supports and allows discrimination.”
Even though as a society we have been at this for a while, more education about the basic definition is still direly needed.
