Humpty Dumpty: When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.
Alice: The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things.
Humpty Dumpty: The question is which is to be master – that’s all.
A racist is someone who believes that:
each race or ethnic group possesses specific characterisitics, abilities, or qualities that distinguish it as inferior or superior to another such group.
That is what the Oxford English Dictionary says and so, as a matter blog policy, it is what I go by.
But that puts me at odds with both anti-racists and most White Americans who have changed the meaning of the word to suit their own ends.
White Americans seem to think that a racist is someone who says the n-word in a mean way (but not in a “friendly” or “joking” way), is in favour of the Klan, maybe has a Nazi flag on his bedroom wall, etc. Skinheads, neo-Nazis, Stormfront and all those. By narrowing the meaning of the word they have – presto-changeo – made themselves not racist!
What they mean by “racism” is the old Jim Crow racism that the civil rights movement publicly shamed on American television coast-to-coast in the 1960s, making it rare now in respectable white circles. But what has taken its place is a more subtle form of racism, which I call colour-blind racism. The colour-blind racist says he does not see colour – until you want to marry his daughter. He does not hate blacks so much as look down on them.
A colour-blind racist hides his racism under three layers of niceness (or maybe just one thin layer) and maybe throws in some politically correct words for added measure, but deep down he is still racist in the good old Oxford dictionary sense. How do we know? The numbers show that racism still goes on in housing, education, unemployment, marriage, etc.
Whites are taught that racism is bad. They pride themselves in not being racist. So when you call white people racist they get upset. They think you mean the Jim Crow sort.
To me racism is what it is in the dictionary: a set of beliefs – like communism or Platonism. When I say someone is racist I am doubting their thinking, not their character. And, nine times out of ten, the racism in question is not the ugly, old Jim Crow sort but the new, subtle colour-blind kind.
At the other end are the anti-racists who say:
racism = prejudice + power
But they are also changing the meaning of the word. And, in any case, I do not buy it, but that is another post.
Some say I am watering down the word, but how? I am the one who is sticking to the meaning of the word. If it turns out that most people are racist, then so be it. No point in fooling ourselves about it by changing the meaning of the word.
See also:
nice post abagond, this is really good. i can’t find your commenting page where I can comment though about stuff
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And what about that Implicit Association Test? It shows only preference for one race (or, hopefully, no preference at all). Yet, you (Abagond) said the test showed you’re racist.
I got a…. hmmm, very racist result on the same test, yet, I do NOT believe any race is superior to another, nor I believe in “race” at all. Or maybe I do?
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I think the IAT is a good quick-and-dirty measure of racism, especially in America where people fool themselves about how racist they are.
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Peanut:
I changed up my theme, but if you go to the top of the page you will see, right above my name, links for Home, About, Commenting, etc.
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“I think the IAT is a good quick-and-dirty measure of racism, especially in America where people fool themselves about how racist they are.
Could be true (about America I mean). My result shows strong preference for black people (and”strong preference” is the highest, a.k.a. most racist, result you can get).
But I do not think black people are superior (at least in my heart I believe people are equal), so the result (at least, mine) could show something else.
And yes, it could be just an American thing, but the test is international. They ask for your country before you do the test and let you take it even if you’re not from the US. Also, the results page is also international (it shows preferences for all the test takers, not just Americans).
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I find the IAT pretty fascinating. I would love to see a plot of the data broken down by test takers and their scores as well scores broken down by country. Have they made the data publicaly available?
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Not that I know of. That would be pretty interesting.
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The IAT is not a good measure of racism, folks.
The IAT measures reflective prejudice and – whatever your definition of racism – prejudice is simply not racism.
Does prejudice imply a belief in biologically transmitted and heirarchically organized races?
No.
Does it show or imply anything about the prejudiced person’s relationship to power?
No.
Does it even tell us if the prejudiced person will be “nice” to people of a given group or not (i.e., the popular, watered down version of racism)?
Of course not.
So how in the hell does the IAT tell us anything at all about racism? All it tells us about are prejudices.
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Hmmm, I believe both your Oxford definition as well as the academic one. To me they’re one and the same when seen on a global scale. But the Oxford one seems easier remember and understand. So I’m curious to read about how the academic one changes the meaning. Looking forward to it.
And yeah, I think most ppl are racist one way or another, to one people group or another.
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There are other words that describe when one group feels superior to another, for example ethnocentric. Xenophobic also comes to mind.
Whites have now changed the meaning when they say a black person is racist or as fromthetropics said, everyone is racist.
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I am a black woman and a good student at a medical school. #1 Things that are incapable of changing are considered dead. Groups of people who cannot change their set of beleives will soon be obsolete.
#2 Even understanding the above. Everyday I am reminded that because of a set of beliefs, no amount of talent makes up for having white skin. How much farther in life would I get if I dyed my skin a few tones lighter to high yellow and my hair auburn and spoke with an oreo accent? Would my A mean anything then? Would I finally be more than a memorizer? In my personal life, would I be attractive enough for the professional black male?
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No amount of talent makes up for having a white skin?
Well, as long as you’re rich too, maybe. But would you rather be poor, stupid and white than poor, black and smart?
But yeah, I get your point. I see my wife catch an inordinant amount of crap because – aside from being black and female – she’s short and cute. People dismiss her very, very readily.
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I have a problem with dictionary definitions of racism because those definitions, particularly the one regarding belief in superiority of one race over another, were undoubtedly an attempt to find a meaningful term or characterization for the state of affairs at that place and time.
One of the classic internet debates I’ve been involved the question of whether America’s race-slavery began due to the existence of racial superiority kind of racism before slavery existed. You know, one of those chicken-and-egg kinds of questions.
Usually, there are those who say America’s race-slavery, e.g., started due to economic rather than “racist” motivations. Historical evidence also indicates that religious bigotry contributed to the way in which non-Whites were viewed differently (and to their disadvantage/detriment when compared to Whites) in early/colonial America. Add to that the conventional idea that pseudo-scientific racism, etc. was created to “justify” America’s race-slavery and you have plenty of reason to question whether the dictionary definition really gets at what the core of what racism was, in reality, then much less contemporary reality.
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So ‘racism’ is a state of mind, not a behaviour?
Slight misunderstanding onthe IAT test, it does not show you are ‘racist’ it shows group preference and is normatively scored so it just shows how strongly, compared to other people, you prefer one group over the other.
The labelling of tyhe strength of those prefeences have no link with behaviour as far as I know, so you can have ‘very strong’ preferences and it may not afect your behaviour.
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Dear Abagond,
It is illegal to use any image from the Lebrecht Photo Library website without a licence. You have illegally removed an image of Humpty Dumpty from our website blog without permission. If you wish to receive a licence please contact me at elbie@lebrecht.co.uk and we will arrange for you to make a payment for licence rights. Otherwise you should remove this image straightaway or you will be in breach of our copyright.
Yours sincerely,
Elbie Lebrecht
Director
Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library
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Removed. Thank you for your kind warning.
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Hell, well at least they warned you in person this time.
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[…] racist depends on your definition of racism. Abagond goes over a few definitions of racism- what most white americans use, what anti-racists use, and what she uses. The white American version can be thrown out because it’s basically so limited that you […]
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Racism is natural. It dates back to the day when humans lived in small clans and fought other clans for natural resources. A leopard never changes its spots
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I agree with you on the definition, Abagond. It’s wrong and too narrow. I once had a white teacher ask our class what does racism mean and like three similar answers were made including mine. She turned them all down until one girl,who a white latina, Brazilian, gave that same overly-specific definition.
And by that definition yeah only people who say they think this race is better than that race even count as racist! So if race does negatively impact certain people it doesn’t count as racist unless explicitly stated that the reason for it being made to happen to them is out of a belief that they are inferior to others.
It almost implies that prejudice and stereotyping are not the same thing as racism! Which is provably incorrect by contemporary definitions. These were kind of how we defined racism as that this teacher dismissed.
To think that a race is generally better or worse than another and therefore that people of members of races put side-by-side one is better than the other is absolutely prejudicial! And not taking these people seriously as individuals because they are being stereotyped!
Therefore stereotyping and prejudice ARE racist.
I also agree. It should be defined in accordance with other -Isms, which would also match the way the word is used currently and complement it being an synonym for stereotyping and prejudice. An-Ism refers to policy so I think a real, better, more literal definition of racism just from breaking down the word would be:
That definition they have sounds misapplied. It’s racial supremacy. Dictionary.com’s definitions are similar to what you posted, but a bit more broad and true.
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The Black race is superior over white people, how many black people play with wild animals and get eaten or all the other dumb shit you see them do .
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White people started racism in America .
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