racism (extra)

A race is a group of people that come from a common background, and that group is generally determined based on skin color. Commonly, but not always, people are categorized into one of five races: White, Black, Latino or Hispanic, Asian, and Indigenous or Native. Racism then, is the discrimination or prejudice of a person or group based on the racial group she or they belong to, although it's not always that simple.

This term is actually used in many ways. Some refer to it as white supremacism, the belief that the Caucasian race is superior to all other races. Others define racism as discrimination against a particular race’s culture, beliefs or traditions. The word might refer to the idea that a single race is somehow purer than other races, or that one race genetically exhibits dominance over others. Some believe that race can be a way to determine behavior and performance.

Racism can be used to refer to prejudice based on race against one person or a group of people; it can be expressed either overtly or subtly. Overt expressions are perhaps the easiest to identify; it is fairly simple to see that the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, are racist. They openly proclaim superiority of the white race and inferiority of non-white races.