American reference dictionary Merriam-Webster would change its definition of the word ‘racism’.This is coming after a young black woman, Kennedy Mitchum suggested they redefined the word to reflect the oppression of people of colour.
Kennedy Mitchum, who is a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, contacted Merriam-Webster, which published its dictionaries since 1847, and proposed they updated the term.
“I basically told them that they need to include that there’s systematic oppression upon a group of people,” she told the local CBS affiliate KMOV. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, I don’t like someone.’”
Confirming the development, Merriam-Webster’s editorial manager Peter Sokolowski told AFP that the definition would be modified after Mitchum’s request. He disclosed that the dictionary currently offers three definitions of racism and the second definition touches on Mitchum’s point. She said that “we will make that even more clear in our next release”.
In the current version of the second definition, racism is “a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles,” and “a political or social system founded on racism.”
Sokolowski 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,”
According to SimilarWeb site, the Merriam-Webster site had nearly 50 million unique visitors in May.