It drives me crazy how many people I've met who try to talk about institutional or systemic racism who leave out the words institutional or systemic. And they often use phrases like: "White people don't suffer from racism"
Why does it bother me? Because the people that need convincing that institutional or systemic racism exists are also the ones who immediately shut down when they hear "can't be racist to white people."
People tend to forget that one is an operational definition. You could even make the argument that it’s a secondary definition with how interchangeably they’re used, though I just prefer to qualify it with the word institutional or structural.
That said, my girlfriend and I have this debate frequently. Neither of us wholly disagrees with the other, but my definition of racism operates on a per-person basis and hers from a societal perspective. We disagree over the fundamental use of the word racism but we agree on basically everything else surrounding the effects and breadth of racism.
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u/Syrinx221 Dec 11 '19
It drives me CRAZY how many people either genuinely don't seem to understand it or refuse to believe it.