Prejudice and racism are not interchangeable

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]I want to respond to this thoughtfully because this question comes up often.

[00:00:05]White people can absolutely experience bias. We can experience prejudice. We can even experience discrimination in individual situations. But racism refers to systems, not just isolated moments.

[00:00:22]In the United States, those systems were shaped by the history of slavery, segregation, redlinining, and laws that explicitly advantaged white people.

[00:00:33]Those patterns influenced housing, wealth, health care, education, and the justice system. And many of those disparities still exist today. So when we use the word racism, we're talking about structural power. That distinction isn't about blame. It's about clarity.

[00:00:55]And clarity helps us have better conversations. Curiosity will always take you further than defensiveness.