[DanaC]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

You can be racist and have perfectly good intentions of helping the people you are racist against. It happens all the time.


Since I'm a pyro...lets throw some gasoline back on this fire.

When it comes to arguing about what is 'racist' or not, it largely comes down to semantics, but this is how I understand it.

Prejudice: When you stereotype a group of people.

Example: PH45 is prejudice against Italians because he thinks they are lazy.


Discrimination: Acting out on a prejudice belief.

Example: PH45 discriminates against Italians by not hiring them. He thinks they are lazy.


Racism: An institutionalized prejudice by a society.
Racist: A person who attempts to institutionalize prejudice or acts out on an institutionalized prejudice.

Example 1: PH45 wrote a racist editorial in the newspaper by urging businesses to not hire Italians because they are lazy.

Example 2: PH45 did not hire an Italian for a job, even though he as qualified, because of a newspaper article.



Obviously racism is very fluid, complex, and the complete opposite of black and white but from my understanding, racism (sexism as well) must be somehow associated with a group of people.

I would agree with Ibby that racism results from people in a position of power. You have to have power in order to institutionalize a prejudice belief. Although, I strongly disagree that racism solely stems from white people, even in the United States. There are a lot of racist beliefs about white people in minority groups and while those racist beliefs may not be able to oppress whites very much, they are still racist since they have power within their own group.

Excellent post.