# Got A Definition of Racial Prejudice?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-definition-of-racial-prejudice/635968>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 27, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-definition-of-racial-prejudice/635968 "2012-09-27T04:13:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-definition-of-racial-prejudice/635968/21 "2012-10-02T23:26:38Z")

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> [@Blake](#):
>
> .. there is no such thing as a powerless minority.  
> While Blacks in the US may have \*less \*power than Whites _as a group_, they are in no sense powerless, they are perfectly capable of killing, intimidating and refusing employment to people based upon racial prejudice.

Good post and agreed. I shall cogitate some more. 😃

> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> Here’s one that doesn’t:
> 
> [RACISM Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism)
> 
> 1: 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
> 
> 2: racial prejudice or discrimination
> 
> Here’s another:
> 
> [Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/racism?q=racism)
> 
> the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races
> 
> prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior:  
> And another:
> 
> [http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/racism](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/racism)
> 
> 1. the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others
> 
> 2. abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief
> 
> By “misunderstand it”, do you mean “fail to share my somewhat idiosyncratic opinion of what it means”?

Well said and I concede you are correct. I was wrong. :smack:

My error is to conflate power with the belief in superiority although my understanding of the use of the word it normally involves the group in power holding the superior views.

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-definition-of-racial-prejudice/635968/22 "2012-10-03T03:47:35Z")

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> [@Ken001](#):
>
> Mmm…so in the apartheid days, if a black South African said white men are notoriously unreliable and won’t work - that would be a racist comment? Remembering that the black population couldn’t vote and this particular man might be murdered by white police for his words.

Well, of course it would be racist because whites were the minority - by about 5-to-1, IIRC depending on how you count coloured and Asians, etc.

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