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A Missouri Woman Asked Merriam-Webster To
Update Its Definition Of Racism And Now Officials Will Make The Change
CNN: 6.12.2020 by David Williams
Kennedy Mitchum wasn't expecting much
when she emailed Merriam-Webster last month, but she wanted to let the
dictionary publisher know that she thought its definition of the word racism
was inadequate.
So she was surprised when an editor
responded and even more surprised that the company agreed to update the entry.
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Mitchum has gotten into a lot
conversations about racism and injustice where people have pointed to the
dictionary to prove that they're not racist. It's happened a lot more lately as
the world reacts to the death of George Floyd while in the custody of four
Minneapolis police officers.
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"I kept having to tell them that
definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the
world," she told CNN. "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."
Merriam-Webster's first definition of
racism is
"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."
After a few emails, Chambers agreed that
the entry should be updated and said a new definition is being drafted.
Peter Sokolowski, an editor at large at
Merriam-Webster, told CNN that their entry also defines racism as
"a
doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism
and
designed to execute its principles"
and
"a political or social system founded on racism,"
which would cover systematic racism and
oppression. WATCH
01:00
Based
on (7) readability formulas:
Grade Level: 14
Reading Level: difficult to read.
Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old
(college level)
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