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Word Project-Reverse Racism
Word Project-Reverse Racism
Word Project-Reverse Racism
This past quarter, we have been reading George Orwell’s “1984” which takes place
in a dystopian era when a new system was put in check by “Big Brother” and created a
society called Oceania. As the novel progresses, the audience gains more knowledge of
the new type of language called “Newspeak” and the slowly but surely diminishment of
words to reduce thinking that would lead to resistance which were to be replaced with
words that require no “thought” whatsoever. Relative to the language, words, known
as “dog whistle” words, are used and spoken today. A “dog whistle” word can be
particular group. One phrase that is commonly spoken today is the term “reverse
racism”. Many people, generally the white community in the U.S., use this term as a
way to justify their own actions and thoughts when it comes to the racism minority
The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC) website states, “Assumptions
and stereotypes about white people are examples of racial prejudice, not racism.” The
source here is stating that assumptions and stereotypes about white people are
considered racial prejudice not reverse racism. The source is stating that the term is
considered a myth because it tries to ignore the fundamental question of who holds
their acts of oppression towards minorities because “racism goes both ways”. Many
confuse racism and prejudice as the same thing, but the difference is that racism
encompasses discrimination and acts of oppression while racial prejudice is defined as
a preconceived opinion not based on reason or actual experience. Prejudice is not the
same as racism. Yes, there are minorities that belong to the black and hispanic
communities that are open about their discontent for the white community but
act upon, which most people of color do not, it is not the same. Acting upon one’s own
thoughts and one verbally stating what they think are two different things.
YR Media’s online article “Reverse Racism? Mmmm... Not A Thing.” states, “Our
society is at a point where the oppressor has become the oppressed. Well, that’s what
the oppressor thinks.” The oppressor believes they are becoming the oppressed.
they created themselves. The Business Insider website states, “To be guilty of racism,
however, to be a racist, say the revision proponents, one must have power, and power
of a special sort…” Racism is prejudice plus power. What political power does one
person of color have over a white person? There has not been a law that simply
oppresses people or “push them to a title that is less than” in America’s history unlike
the black community has faced. White people were not the ones in chains. They were
the ones that held the whip. What is “black privilege” compared to white privilege?
Nothing. Because it does not exist in “the land of the free”. One cannot simply change
the definition of racism to justify what they have been doing for centuries.