I don't know the last time you've picked up an actual dictionary and read through it but currently, Merriam-Webster dictionary as Racism defined as:
A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Kennedy Mitchum, a 22 year old Missouri woman, had a problem with the current definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, so she decided to take the matters into her own hands!
Kennedy told CNN, she reached out to the publishers to explain that the dictionary's current definition allows people to ignor racism because they don't personally hold those beliefs.
Kennedy went on to say:
I kept having to tell them that definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the world. The way that racism occurs in real life is not just prejudice, it's the systemic racism that is happening for a lot of black Americans.
Kennedy reached out to publishers of Merriam-Webster dictionary via email on Thursday night and has a reply on Friday morning! Apparently a new definition is currently being drafted by the company!
An editor for the publication explained that while the dictionary's second listed definition for racism does address the 22 year old's point, the definition's wording will be 'made even more clear in our next release.' The editor went on to state:
I think we can express this more clearly to bring the idea of an asymmetrical power structure into the language of this definition.