“Defining Racism” by Beverly Tatum

Racism has become a national obsession. Universities are on full alert for it, newspapers and politicians denounce it, churches preach against it, and America struggles to eliminate it, but just what is racism? If all men are created equal, then why should differences in race matter?
According to Beverly Tatum’s definition, prejudice is a pre conceived judgement usually based on limited information, while racism is defined as “a system of advantage based on race” (Tatum, 1997 p. 7). Having considered these two distinctive definitions, my interpretation is that as long as prejudice remains an attitude, even if it can be emotionally painful and demoralizing, it cannot be considered racism until it is put into action.
Having worked in the Persian Gulf for 13 years, I have witnessed first hand how race played an important role in terms of employment and career growth in that part of the world. Back then, I was very naïve, I have always believed in the equality of races, and ...