According to the Oxford dictionary, the official dictionary for this blog, racism is:

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: ‘theories of racism’ – Oxford dictionary, 2014

As far as I can tell, these are the seven main kinds of racism present in America:

1. Jim Crow racism – common among White Americans over 65: the Klan, lynchings, the N-word, etc. It is an open, sometimes violent, fear and hatred for Blacks and others. Until about 1940, science, religion, law and government backed it. It is what most Whites mean by “racism” and “bigotry”. It is no longer considered respectable among them, not even by:

2. Race realism – common among trolls on this blog and many on the right. It is an updated Jim Crow racism. The main difference is that it does not “hate” people of colour, it just looks down on them (even Asians, in a patronizing way) – but not out of prejudice, oh no, but out of a duty to truth:

scientific racism – the belief that science proves there are races among humans and that some races are better than others. Current science proves no such thing. Scientific racists say that is because the left has taken over the universities. But their “scientific” racism is pseudoscience, no better than ancient astronauts or UFOs. Human biodiversity (HBD) is its most common form.

3. Colour-blind racism – common among White Americans under 65. Unlike Jim Crow racism or race realism, it talks the talk of equality and does not blame biology for racial inequality. But it does not walk the walk: instead, it blames inequality on the cultural and social pathologies of Blacks and Latinos. It sees racism as natural – and yet dead! The Asian brain drain and its offspring, the model minority, prove it!

4. Islamophobia – Open, sometimes violent, fear and hatred of “Muslims”, particularly Arabs and Sikhs. The Brown Peril. Its scholarly form is called Orientalism.

5. Internalized racism – common among Black, Latino, Asian and Native Americans. This is where you are racist against yourself because of the racist brainwashing that comes standard in American society – through school, television, etc. For Blacks it even comes to them through the White racism that became part of their culture in slave times, leading to ideas like colourism, “good hair” and the N-word. There is no equal and opposite Black racism – just internalized White racism.

6. Institutional racism – racism by the courts, police, schools, universities, banks, the fashion industry, Hollywood, the labour and housing markets, etc. Those who say that “racism = prejudice + power” mean this kind. That is why they say people of colour cannot be racist – because they lack institutional power. Institutional racism grew directly out of:

7. Historical racism – my name for past institutional racism that still has an effect on the present. Like Natives being robbed of their land or Blacks being robbed of their labour, leading to the huge wealth gap between them and Whites.

See also: