I don’t have the sociological definition of racism at my fingertips, but IIRC it includes the need for a power imbalance, which is generally why people push back when folks say that minority groups can be racist against against white people. Our entire country was (arguably still is to a large degree) set up to where there is a huge power imbalance in favor of white people.
If you just want to make the very real point that white people are victims of bigotry also sometimes, rather than get into this repetitive debate about whether there can be racism against white people, IMO you can just say “bigotry” or “racial prejudice” and carry the same message you intend to without having to have this tired debate about whether white people can experience racism.
Unless you aren’t tired of the tired debate, but I know I sure am.
Just to make things even more complicated, there can be a power imbalance at a macro level that favors group A over group B, whereas at a more micro level, there can be situations where the power balance is reversed. I’m a white kid who grew up in a barrio (long story) and I experienced that at an early age. I got the shit beaten out of me many times because my face didn’t fit, as well as being on the receving end of disparaging and sometimes threatening comments (especially when I was dating one of the girls from the neighborhood).
So I think you’re onto something with the terminological distinctions you’re making. Equating “racism” with “systemic racism” gives a lot more truth to the “white people can’t experience racism” claim. But along with systemic racism, there’s ad-hoc racism and related forms of bigotry that can run counter to the prevalent bias.
Still, if my name were Gonzalez instead of my very common Irish surname, and I applied for a university place or (even more) a job, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to be treated more negatively, even with the same qualifications. I’ve seen it happen to my friends and neighbors.
There’s a whole, long discussion to be had about intersectionality, and about the fundamental incommensurability of the many possible axes of privilege and oppression. I’m not motivated to get into that now, but undertanding it makes some otherwise counter-intuitive observations make more sense.
I don’t have the sociological definition of racism at my fingertips, but IIRC it includes the need for a power imbalance, which is generally why people push back when folks say that minority groups can be racist against against white people. Our entire country was (arguably still is to a large degree) set up to where there is a huge power imbalance in favor of white people.
If you just want to make the very real point that white people are victims of bigotry also sometimes, rather than get into this repetitive debate about whether there can be racism against white people, IMO you can just say “bigotry” or “racial prejudice” and carry the same message you intend to without having to have this tired debate about whether white people can experience racism.
Unless you aren’t tired of the tired debate, but I know I sure am.
Just to make things even more complicated, there can be a power imbalance at a macro level that favors group A over group B, whereas at a more micro level, there can be situations where the power balance is reversed. I’m a white kid who grew up in a barrio (long story) and I experienced that at an early age. I got the shit beaten out of me many times because my face didn’t fit, as well as being on the receving end of disparaging and sometimes threatening comments (especially when I was dating one of the girls from the neighborhood).
So I think you’re onto something with the terminological distinctions you’re making. Equating “racism” with “systemic racism” gives a lot more truth to the “white people can’t experience racism” claim. But along with systemic racism, there’s ad-hoc racism and related forms of bigotry that can run counter to the prevalent bias.
Still, if my name were Gonzalez instead of my very common Irish surname, and I applied for a university place or (even more) a job, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to be treated more negatively, even with the same qualifications. I’ve seen it happen to my friends and neighbors.
There’s a whole, long discussion to be had about intersectionality, and about the fundamental incommensurability of the many possible axes of privilege and oppression. I’m not motivated to get into that now, but undertanding it makes some otherwise counter-intuitive observations make more sense.