Under a systemic understanding of racism,
individual acts of racism—as we usually understand the idea—can still be understood as racism. In fact, all are
so long as they fit the “prejudice + power to implement the prejudice” model that relies upon a systemic understanding of
power dynamics. That is, an act of racial prejudice can only be understood as “racism” under the Critical
Social Justice rubric if it flows from a
position of greater power to one of lesser power, i.e., from
domination to
oppression, as described by
Theory. This understanding of racism ultimately comes from
critical race Theory, in part including a racial re-theorizing of
Foucault’s ideas about
knowledge and power, which renders it at least partly
postmodern in its orientation.
In practice, this means that
white people can be racist against
people of color, but the reverse is not possible (and racism from one person of color to another can be understood only
intersectionally, perhaps by consulting the
Matrix of Domination – see also,
BIPOC,
positionality, and
strategic racism). Some sources, in fact, including
Is Everyone Really Equal?, a book coauthored by Robin DiAngelo (author of
White Fragility), explicitly indicate that racism is something that only
white people do. Furthermore, any individual act of racism is to be considered intelligible only as a part of (and proof of) the system of racism that is Theorized to pervade society (see also,
white supremacy).
