Merriam-Webster to revise its definition of racism following request from Missouri woman

Ah, the power of a well-worded email. 

Thanks to a particularly thoughtful email, Merriam-Webster will be updating its definition of the word racism to more fully include its systemic aspects. 

Last month, Kennedy Mitchum, a recent college graduate from Missouri, emailed the dictionary publisher to explain why she found its current definition wasn’t working, according to CNN. 

Currently, Merriam-Webster’s first definition of racism is “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” 

According to St. Louis news station KMOV-TV, Mitchum felt as if this definition was too simple. She found that people would often point to the dictionary’s definition of racism to prove their own innocence, according to CNN. 

“I kept having to tell them that definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the world,” Mitchum told CNN. “The way that racism occurs in real life is not just prejudice it’s the systemic racism that is happening for a lot of black Americans.” 

After having another argument that she resolved would be her last, she decided to email Merriam-Webster. 

“I basically told them they need to include that there is systematic oppression on people. It’s not just ‘I don’t like someone,’ it’s a system of oppression for a certain group of people.” Mitchum told KMOV-TV. 

The morning after she sent her email, Alex Chambers, an editor from Merriam-Webster, replied, according to CNN. Following a back-and-forth email exchange, the company agreed to update its entry for the word racism.

“While our focus will always be on faithfully reflecting the real-world usage of a word, not on promoting any particular viewpoint, we have concluded that omitting any mention of the systemic aspects of racism promotes a certain viewpoint in itself,” Chambers wrote back, according to a Facebook post from Mitchum that included a screenshot of Chambers’ email. 

Per KMOV-TV, Chambers says the new entry is currently being drafted. 

At present, Merriam-Webster’s second definition of the word 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.”

Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster, told Mashable via email that the dictionary’s current second definition of racism “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.” 

Sokolowski explained that while this aspect of the definition covers the use suggested by Mitchum, the wording for the word racism will be made “even more clear” in the dictionary publisher’s next release.  

“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,” Sokolowski wrote. 

When asked if the revision would specifically modify the first definition, Sokolowski told Mashable via email: “We are examining the evidence and drafting any revisions accordingly; the revised entry will not be finalized until it’s been through our editorial process, and we don’t anticipate releasing it to the public before our next dictionary update.” 

According to Mitchum’s Facebook post about Chambers’ email, he told her: “This revision would not have been made without your persistence in contacting us about this problem. We sincerely thank you for repeatedly writing in and apologize for the harm and offense we have caused in failing to address the issue sooner. I will see to it that the entry for racism is given the attention it sorely needs.” 

So hey, send that email.