2020-12-15
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด R – Racism
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง Racism = ‘REY-siz-uhm’
Dictionary.com
ABOUT THIS WORD
What is racism?
Racism is most commonly used to namea form of prejudice
in which a person believes in the superiority of what
they consider to be their own “race” over others.
This most often takes the form of believing that
those with other skin colors
—especially darker skin colors
—are inferior physically, intellectually, morally, and/or culturally,
and mistreating and discriminating against them because of this.
Such a belief typically promotes the notion
that white people are “the default”
—that whiteness is “normal”
and that people with other appearances
are the ones who are “different” (and “inferior”).
The word racism is also used to mean a system of oppression
based on this kind of prejudice
that is thought to be embedded into the fabric of society
and its institutions,
resulting in ongoing mistreatment and injustice in many, many forms.
This is often called
systemic racism,
institutional racism, or
structural racism.
These terms imply that such racism
is upheld by laws, policies, traditions, and institutions
—and the people who keep them in place.
When used in this way,
racism typically refers to a system
that has oppressed people of color
all over the world throughout history.
Such a system is often thought to operate throughwhite people
using the advantages that the systemgives them
(often called white privilege)
to maintain their supremacy over people of color
(often called white supremacy).
Particularly in the U.S.,
it’s used to refer to a system that has historically oppressed
and continues to oppress Black people,
Native (also called Indigenous) Americans,
and other people of color, including Latinx,
Asian, Middle Eastern, and Australian Aboriginal and other Oceanic peoples.
Other forms of bigotry, intolerance, and xenophobia,
such as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,
are often considered to be rooted in racism.
The word racist can be used as a noun
meaning a racist person
or as an adjective
meaning “of or promoting racism,”
as in racist ideology or racist comments.
What is race?
To fully define racism, we have to define race.
Throughout history,
the word race has commonly been used
to refer to a classification of humans
based on various physical characteristics,
especially skin color, facial form, and eye shape.
But sorting people into such racesis truly arbitrary
—they’re not based on meaningful scientific differences
(like, for example, those used todetermine legitimate scientific classifications
Although the obsession with the difference
in people’s skin color is one of the foundations of racism,
skin color is in fact not even a reliable indicatorof
how genetically different or similarpeople are.
(Difference in skin color is due to having differing levels
of a pigment, called melanin, in the skin.
Melanin is also a factor in hair color.)
Today, race is best understood as a socially constructed
category of identification based on
physical characteristics, ancestry, historical affiliation, or shared culture.
Many people identify as a member of a particular race
based on one or more of these factors,
and doing so helps members of oppressed groups to formcommunities.
Still, the insidious idea that race determines a person’s behavior
is strong and pervasive.
Racism often refers to the way
that racists and racist institutionsuse this concept
to continue to sort and stereotype people,
perpetuating racism and making it widespread
on both an individual and systemiclevel.
Where does the word racism come from?
The word racism derives from the French word racisme,
which is first recorded in the 1800s.
The suffix -ism is used in racism to indicate a doctrine of prejudice
—in this case, a prejudice based on race
(-ism is used in the same way in words like sexism and ageism).
The first known record of the word racism being used in English
is from a 1902 speech by Colonel Richard Henry Pratt at the annual meeting of the Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indian:
“Association of races and classes is necessary in order to destroy racism and classism.”
What may seem like a positive statement was actually said
in the context of a speech based on the classically racist notion
that Native Americans need to be “civilized” in order to be assimilated
into the dominant white American society.
Is racism a belief, a pattern of behavior, or a system?
Racism certainly relies on the belief that
certain groups of people are inferior.
People who are racist
dehumanize these groups by treating them as subhuman,
often through the use of racist language.
In this way, racism prevents people from seeing others as individuals.
But those who advocate for the recognitionthat
racism is systemic often note that referring to racism
as simply a belief ignores these actions taken due to such a belief
and the oppression said to be embedded in such systems.
Those who use the word racism to refer to more than a belief
also often point out the importance of
recognizing the imbalance of power in the equation.
Namely, they note that racism is a tool of the dominant group,
the group with economic, social, or cultural power
—in most cases, white people.
(Use of the term reverse racism,
such as to refer to prejudice against white people,
is often criticized for dismissing the role of power
in most cases of racism and itssystemic use.)
Many people tend to think of racism as glaring and obvious:
racist slurs, slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, lynching,
and other violent hate crimes.
But racism exists in many forms.
In the U.S., examples of racism implemented explicitly
and on an institutional level
include Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and segregation,
which denied African Americans many basic rights
and resulted in inferior schools, housing, and access to jobs
—all inequities that continue to persist in some form.
In South Africa, the policy of apartheid was used by
white South Africans to segregate and economically
and politically oppress Black South Africans and other nonwhite citizens.
In Australia, Aborigines have been subjected to racist mistreatment
since the arrival of white settlers,
and other Indigenous peoples across the world
have been oppressed under racist colonialism and imperialism.
Other forms of racism may not be as readily obvious
to people who are not targeted by them.
One example is redlining,
in which institutions like banks and insurance companies
refuse or limit loans, mortgages, or insurance policies
within specific geographic areas
—typically neighborhoods where people of color live.
Another example is racist profiling
and mistreatment of people of color by police.
Discussion of systemic racism often references statistics
that highlight the prevalence of these practices.
In the U.S., for example,
Black people are arrested and imprisoned at higher rates.
They are also, on average, less likely to be hired for jobs
than white candidates,
despite the fact that there are laws prohibiting
the consideration of race in the hiring process.
Labor statistics also frequently show a wage gap
between white people and nonwhite people
—meaning people of color earn less for doing the same work.
(The theory of intersectionality is the idea that
certain groups are the subject of multiple forms of systemic oppression
—women of color, for example,
are regularly shown to earn lower wages than other people doing the same job.)
The infant mortality rate for African Americans
is often more than twice that of white Americans
and is one of the inequities that is oftenattributed to systemic racism.
Other forms of racism are more subtle and may even be unintentional.
These often result from implicit bias
and conscious or unconscious stereotypes.
For example,
when a white person tells a Black person they’re articulate,
it may be offered as a sincere compliment,
but it often implies a sense of surprise that a Black person speaks so well.
(Actions and statements like these are sometimes called microaggressions.)
Many theories about racism also focus on
how it can be internalized by the people it targets.
The term colorism,for example, is often used to
refer to the practice within a group,
such as between or among Black people,
of favoritism toward those with a lighter skin tone
and mistreatment or exclusion of those with a darker skin tone.
What is antiracism?
Antiracism is an active effort to identify and dismantle racism.
It is often distinguished from the questionably
neutral stance of simply being “not racist.”
Like racism,
antiracism can be implemented in both big ways,
such as passing antidiscrimination laws and abolishing racist ones,
and small ways,
such as explicitly labeling racist commentsas racist,
instead of using euphemistic terms like racially charged.
Antiracist movements like the Civil Rights Movement,
the movement to end apartheid,
and those led by organizations like
Black Lives Matter work to replace racism and injusticewith justice.
As these efforts continue,
the many terms used in the discussion of racism are sure to evolve.
ABAR = [ ey-bahr ]
WHAT DOES ABAR MEAN?
ABAR stands for anti-bias anti-racism.
It is principally used to refer to educational programs,
notably implemented in Montessori schools,
that instruct young children about social justice and racial inequality.
The acronym ABAR gained greater use
and attention outside of education
during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
WHERE DOES ABAR COME FROM?
Anti-bias, also written as antibias,
refers to a belief or practice
that recognizes various social biases
(especially in the form or racial prejudice and discrimination),
and actively combats biases for a more just, equal society.
Anti-racism (or antiracism)
entails “a belief or practice that recognizespervasive racism in society,
and actively combats racial prejudice and discrimination
in order to promote racial justice and equality.”
While ABAR theories and practicesare much older,
anti-bias anti-racist has been specifically abbreviated as ABAR
since at least the mid-2010s
In ABAR education, teachers and staff
—after first learning about their own forms
of prejudice, privilege, and oppression
—instruct young children about social identity
and how to live in and cultivate inclusive, respectful communities.
The goal of ABAR education is not only for students
to counteract biases in their thoughts and behaviors,
but also to oppose systemic racism in society.
A leading scholar and educator on ABAR schooling and training is
Louise Derman-Sparks, whose 2010 book,
Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves,
informs and guides many ABAR education programs.
ABAR education is especially prominent in Montessori education,
a hands-on, self-motivated system
for teaching students that emphasizes
values of peace, justice, diversity, and inclusion.
The acronym ABAR notably spread outsideof educational settings
in 2020 amid historic protests
—sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by police
—against systemic racism in society.
From calling to defund police departments
to taking down statues of Christopher Columbus,
activists have demanded people (especially white people),
governments, and businesses to do the work of opposing bias
and racism not only in heart and mind, but also in institutions.
WHO USES ABAR?
ABAR education and training
—and demand for it in more schools, workplaces, and communities
—notably increased in 2020, particularly in the US
during a national discourse that stressed the importance
and responsibility of white people and white-dominant institutions to combat racism.
ABAR is generally used as a modifier,
e.g., ABAR resources for middle school.
Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary
Racism
The “C” in “racism” and “racist”
is pronounced as a simple “S” sound,
Don’t confuse it with the “SH” sound in “racial.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The History and Dictionary Meaning of Racism
Racism appears to be a word of recent origin,
with no citations currently known
that would suggest the word was in use prior to the early 20th century.
But the fact that the word is fairly new
does not prove that the concept of racism
did not exist in the distant past.
Things may have words to describe them before they exist
(spaceship, for instance, has been in use since the 19th century,
well before the rocket-fired vessels were invented),
and things may exist for a considerable time before
they are given names
(t-shirt does not appear in print until the 20th century,
although the article of clothing existed prior to1900).
Dictionaries are often treated as the final arbiter
in arguments over a word’s meaning,
but they are not always well suited for settling disputes.
The lexicographer’s role is to
explain how words are (or have been) actuallyused,
not how some may feel that they should beused,
and they say nothing about the intrinsic nature of the thing
named by a word, much less the significance it may have for individuals.
When discussing concepts like racism, therefore,
it is prudent to recognize that quoting from a dictionary
is unlikely to either mollify or persuade the person with whom one is arguing.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
'Xenophobia' vs. 'Racism'
Where they overlap and how they differ
What to Know
Xenophobia is the fear and hatredof strangers or foreigners,
whereas racism has a broader meaning set
including "a belief that racial differences
produce the inherent superiority of a particular race."
Although they are similar,
they are different enough that
it is possible for one to be both xenophobicand racist.
It’s never a good sign
when we start seeing a massive increase in lookups
for two closely related and unwelcome terms like racism and xenophobia,
as is the case of late with the rise of COVID-19
and subsequent global pandemic.
However, our place, as a dictionary,
is not to judge the words that are being looked up
(or the people looking them up),
but instead to provide, to the best of our ability,
as much information about them as is possible.
Xenophobia vs. Racism Meaning
Xenophobia is “fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners
or of anything that is strange or foreign.”
Racism has a slightly broader range of meanings,
including “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits
and capacities and that racial differences producean inherent superiority of a particular race,” and “a politicalor social system founded on racism.”
It should be noted that the meanings of these two words
are sufficiently different
that a person (or thing, such as a policy)
may very easily be both racist and xenophobic.
'Xenophobia' comes from the Greek words 'xenos'
(either "stranger" or “guest") and 'phobos' ("fear" or “flight”).
Both words are fairly recent additions to our language;
newer certainly than the condition they describe.
Racism does not appear in print prior to the early 20th century, and xenophobia is only a few decades older.
Here, however, as in other cases, we are inclined to think that intelligent xenomania is decidedly preferable to the Xenophobia which is of necessity and always unintelligent. — The Daily News (London, England), 12 April 1880
It is also true that in Hungary
the Nationalists are in relation with the Fascists,
and call on all Hungarians to “awaken.”
But in general the countries included in this survey
show few signs of being seriously influenced by Racism. —S isley Huddleston, The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), 21 Oct. 1932
Etymology of Xenophobia
Xenophobia comes from the Greek words xenos
(which can be translated as either "stranger" or “guest")
and phobos (which means either "fear" or “flight”).
There are a large number of words in English which are based on phobos
(some of which may be seen here).
Xenos has given us far fewer words;
words from this root include
xenocentric(“oriented toward or preferring a culture other than one's own”) and
xenial (“of, relating to, or constituting hospitality or relations between host and guest and especially among the ancient Greeks between persons of different cities”).
Semantic Overlap
Once again, while it is certainly possible to distinguishbetween xenophobia and racism on a number of levels,
it is also possible that the words may be used almost interchangeably.
Each word may also have some degree of
semantic overlap with nativism,
which is defined as
“a policy of favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants”
or “the revival or perpetuation of an indigenous culture
especially in opposition to acculturation.”
Please be advised that
there are many words which have definitions
that are not accepted, or employed,
by all the speakers of a language.
Racism and xenophobia arelikely two such specimens,
and serve as reminders of both
the messiness of the human condition and the human vocabulary.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
-Ism (Word of the year for 2015)
In 2015, a group of 7 words all sharing
the same suffix—-ism—were looked up with significant frequency,
resulting in the choice of -ism itself as the Word for the Year.
Socialism was the most looked up of the seven,
as presidential candidate
Bernie Sanders' identification as a "democratic socialist"
kept the word in the national conversation.
The other six -ism words
so prominent in the public's consciousness were fascism, racism, feminism, communism, capitalism, and terrorism.
