https://medium.com/handwaving-freako...m-2d685d3af845
Colloquial Definition One: Racism is treating someone differently (usually badly) because of their race.
In R(1), racism is determined entirely by the actions of individuals. An act is racist if that act treats someone differently based on their race, and a person is racist if the person commits racist acts. This is important to understand, because it’s an individualist definition, not a collectivist one. If a collection, group, or society is racist under R(1), it’s because the individuals within that collective predominantly do racist things, as defined within R(1). Conversely, if a collective does not do racist things, the collective isn’t racist.
Colloquial Definition Two: “Racism = Prejudice + Power”
In R(2), racism is institutionalized in hierarchies of societal power. R(2) adherents do not view governments, corporations, or other organizations as collections of individuals making individual choices. They view them as monolithic structures laid over society that have their own means and goals. It is a collectivist interpretation, as opposed to an individualist interpretation, of the world. To an R(2) adoptee, nobody can be racist if they aren’t in the dominant group, no matter how prejudiced they are, because they lack one of the two variables in the equation.
As the writer points out, the 2nd definition is problematic on various levels. It serves as an excuse for minorities to behave however they please, and it removes any sense of individual accountability (or innocence).