A Matter of Proper Wording
Merriam-Webster changes definition of racism — thanks to Missouri black woman named Kennedy Mitchum
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-merriam-webster-definition-racism-kennedy-mitchum-20200610-tj3qi6awi5eyxb5hkblf62glyu-story.html
In a letter to the editors of The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the 22 year old who recently graduated from Drake University wrote:
“Racism is not only prejudice against a certain race due to the color of a persons skin, as it states in your dictionary,” she wrote. “It is both prejudice combined with social and institutional power. It is a system of advantage based on skin color.”
In response, Alex Chambers, an editor at the dictionary said:
“The usage of racism to specifically describe the intersection of race-based prejudice with social and institutional oppression is becoming more and more common among English users,”
In explaining the rationale for the forthcoming change to the definition of racism Chambers said:
“Activism doesn’t change the dictionary,” he said. “Activism changes the language.”
Well done MS Mitchum, well done indeed!
06/11/2020 @ 6:30 am
And it will likely change the conversation. This is good to see.
06/11/2020 @ 6:44 am
The definition is being updated and changed precisely because we have changed the conversation.
The young lady deserves kudos for articulating that fact and bringing it to the attention of the dictionary editors.
06/11/2020 @ 8:45 am
Ron, you’ve been characterizing racism this way for a long time and have objected when others have used the older definition. This should make some of those conversations easier.
News is coming in too fast to post about, so I’ll update you in comments in case you haven’t come across this yet:
IBM has announced that they’re getting out of the facial recognition software business because they don’t want to be involved in its use for racial profiling. Amazon then announced they’re putting a one year moratorium on giving police access to their facial recognition software. Like with the Confederate flag, things are happening very quickly.
Speaking of the Confederate flag: NASCAR just announced that they will not allow it to be displayed at any of their events.
06/11/2020 @ 9:04 am
I’m gratified that the people at Merriam-Webster are catching up with me and others like me who insisted on a linguistic as well as a rhetorical expansion of the definition of ‘racism’.
What’s happening with the dictionary is a manifestation of what appears to be happening in a variety of spheres of interaction and endeavor.
However, even with all that is happening, seemingly for the better, it is saddening to think that people must die before the need for change is acknowledged and acted upon….
There is little solace in being ahead of the curve if it also means being a harbinger of the sacrifices that must and will be made as the cost and price we pay for change and progress.
Apparently, the recent spate of police murders resulted in the seeds of change, sown by MS Mitchum, to fall on ground ploughed by old school freedom writers like me, and fertilized by the blood of recent martyrs like George Floyd.
If read correctly, the imperative cited by the dictionary’s editor is inescapable:
The definition of the word ‘racism’ is being changed because the application and use of the word in common argumentation and discussion has changed.