Death of Racism

Racism

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race

American Heritage Dictionary

Words are extremely powerful tools which are able to move large objects or stop large objects depending on your intent. Because we use words so frequently we often forget the ramifications of words hastily uttered or words used in wrong context or many other foot-in-mouth scenarios. When you want to affect change, inspire people, demotivate people or the like, you have to consider the powerful impact words can have.

Consider the term "release" used most recently by the Christian Peacemakers Team upon the rescue of their own from Iraqi terrorist criminals. A small word, but it spoke volumes about what they believed and how they viewed the soldiers who freed them. The backlash was swift and their attempt to smooth over the issue was seen as the half-hearted gesture it was.

Today, I suggest that the word "racism" is for the most part - dead. At one time it truly meant something significant as the American Heritage Dictionary suggests. However, it's become just another discarded empty word - filler if you will such as ummm, or uhhh, or just fill in your favorite or not so favorite four letter word. I'm not suggesting that racism itself is dead - it will forever live on as long as there are races on this planet. So, here are the reasons why I believe "racism" the word is dead.

First of all, when a word no longer means the same thing when different people use it - then the word has lost its meaning. If the purpose of words is communication, then everyone in the conversation should understand the words being used or communication doesn't occur. For many people, the term "racism" has its historical meaning - but these days the word is used to stifle dialogue when it benefits the one side (generally the minority). It's a fear tactic to silence logic and reason in what should be a rational debate.

Secondly, a word loses its meaning when its use is expanded to an extreme. If every time a minority is offended by someone of another color calls it racism, then racism simply means to be offended by someone of another race. If every time a minority doesn't get their way in a political argument its racism, then racism simply means to not have sufficient votes to have my way. If every time there's a sports event and a minority is not represented on the field it's racism, then racism simply means the best athletes competed at the expense of diversity.

I'm sure there are more ways a word can lose its meaning and thus its value, but these two are more than sufficient to put the nail in the coffin to any word. We are at a place in American society where we are willing to defame individuals in order to obtain our own personal political agenda. Whether we feel like we are "owed" something by those we are at odds with or not, such short-sighted tactics have a long-term price we are surely not willing to pay. If every time we go to discuss topics of immigration, welfare, healthcare and a host of over issues, the "racism" charge gets thrown onto the table - then constructive dialog will never occur. Rather than being a term which should evoke personal introspection, racism has become a term of personal attack which throws up a wall preventing anything constructive from occurring.

For those who have been victims of racism, I am genuinely saddened by such heartless acts of humanity. But the reality is that those experiences of REAL racism are made even worse by the death blows to the word when it’s used so liberally and without thought. The term used to bring shame on its target, now it’s used so often it simply brings shame on its user. No one believes it anymore. And that's the real shame, because once a word dies - what it stood for is believed to be dead. The short-sided abuse of the term will ultimately lead to the long-term resurgence of racism because people just get tired of being beaten for no reason. Any hope of genuine dialog on the issue is gone because of the disingenuous nature of those who've abused the term.