Merriam-Webster is revising its definition of racism after a Missouri woman's emails claimed it fell short of including the systemic oppression of certain groups of people.Kennedy Mitchum, who lives in the St. Louis suburb Florissant, said people would argue with her about the definition of racism and she realized the problem was in the Merriam-Webster's dictionary, CBS affiliate KMOV-TV reported.
Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster, said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that the dictionary's second definition is "divided to express, first, explicit institutional bias against people because of their race, and, second, a broader implicit bias that can also result in an asymmetrical power structure."
"This second definition covers the sense that Ms. Mitchum was seeking, and we will make its wording even more clear in our next release," he said. "This is the kind of continuous revision that is part of the work of keeping the dictionary up to date, based on rigorous criteria and research we employ in order to describe the language as it is actually used."
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary first defines racism as "a beliefthat race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."
