>>> Doug Henwood
That's one definition of racism, one very popular with the one- dimensional types around WBAI, but why does it have to be the only one? What's wrong with calling that "white supremacy" and following the Oxford American Dictionary's definition for the word?
"The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races."
Surely the phenom is widespread enough that it doesn't hurt to have a
word for it.
Doug
CB:
The main typology of races ( leftover from Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid , etc. in the encyclopedias from the early 1960's) originates in the European conquest of the globe as a rationale for that conquest based on Europeans' claim of superiority to other groups.
The negative connotation of the term "racism" is politically and historically appropriately tied to white supremacy, because , by far , through modern history , "race" has been a European term expressing white supremacy; and it was not equally the other way around, i.e. dark people weren't claiming or enforcing "racial" superiority to white people.
"Ethnic prejudice" would be a better term for what is defined by the Oxford American's definition of "racism". The "sixties" connotation of "racism" as specifically "white supremacy" is the best politically. Not surprising that the Oxford American dictionary definition takes the asymetry out of it, like the pernicious "reverse discrimination " idea which doctrine falsely implies that dark people's prejudice against light people has had the same political and historical impact as the other way around.
Racism is prejudice plus superior power in the group with the prejudice.
Your struggles at WBAI are atypical of the larger history and politics of race and racism.