For someone seeking clarity and conciseness, this author has certainly come up with a meandering mess of semi-related thoughts. (What domestication of animals has to do with racism baffles me.)

But let's be clear... the nouns racism and racist are different words — for a reason. Yet, this nit-picking about evolving definitions basically equates the two and, thus, muddles their true meanings.

It's sadly common for fragile White folks to leap to the "I'm not a racist" defense in discussions about racism and/or systemic racism. I get that. But, if we don't let down our guard and learn the truth about how these problems came to be and how we have benefited from them, they will continue to persist.

For a publisher to update its dictionary to acknowledge the very real issue of systemic (AKA institutional) racism should be applauded. Keeping up as public consciousness grows should be part of a dictionary's mission statement.

One point of agreement: A person or group doesn't necessarily have to be dominant to purport racist beliefs or act in racist ways. They can't, however, enact and establish racist systems for the explicit purpose of preventing the racial group they consider inferior from thriving.