Wikipedia: Racism

Racism is a term used in many different ways, and its meaning is not generally agreed-upon. Most generally and probably least uncontroversially, racism is the view that one race is superior to another race, or to all other races.

A vernacular use of racism extends to any form of discrimination based on characteristics which may be classified as racial, including skin color, cultural heritage, and religion. This is also known as "racial discrimination". Some people use the term [Reverse racism]? to indicate racism against a majority by a minority. Although the term racism applies to either, it often carries the connotation of racism by the majority against the minority.

Racism is and has been official policy in many countries. In the 1970s Uganda expelled tens of thousands of ethnic Indians. Malaysia has discriminatory laws limiting access to university education for the ethnic Chinese. Russia launched anti-semitic pogroms? against Jews in 1905 and after.

Some forms of government-sponsored racism are less overt. For example, many police jurisdictions of the United States practice racial profiling, where members of certain racial minorities are the targets of closer police scrutiny.

One specific kind of racism is anti-semitism, racism against Jews, which has been common in many countries in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. In the United States and elsewhere (notably Germany), white racists are behind a closely-watched white supremacy movement.

Research on Intelligence and Race

There is some research which purports to show that people who identify themselves as "white" are more "intelligent" than those who identify themselves as "black" and "Hispanic". In U.S. in IQ tests, "black" people on average got significantly different results (85) than "white" people (average 100), with "Hispanics" somewhere in between. Comparing people of the same income and level of education makes the gap only slightly smaller. Some people argue that such correction is invalid, as correlation between IQ, education level and income comes from the fact that higher intelligence causes better education and better income, not the other way around. In any case, this correction doesn't significantly change the conclusion.

No significant IQ gap was found between "white", "Jewish" and "Asian" people.

Not much research on this topic has been published, because it is assumed by many that the only motivation for such research is racism. Much of the controversial research has been summarized, in great detail, in The Bell Curve, published in 1994 by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray. It immediately attracted much media attention, and was denounced as thinly veiled racism. The authors were publicly denounced as Nazis. http://www.lrainc.com/swtaboo/taboos/hum_diff.html

However, it is less known that following the publication of their work and the subsequent vilification of the authors, a public statement was circulated by 52 internationally known scholars in support of the research in "The Bell Curve". It was published in The Wall Street Journal, 12/3/94. http://www.lrainc.com/swtaboo/taboos/wsj_main.html

Since then, many scientists have disputed the evidence presented in The Bell Curve, and have found what they see as serious methodological flaws. A critique of the book can be found in the revised and expanded edition of The Mismeasure of Man, by Stephen Jay Gould (1996, W. W. Norton and Co.)

Also see collectivism, hate crime, [civil rights movement]?, race, white supremacy, [black supremacy]?, apartheid, race riot, white trash

/racial and ethnic slurs--a discussion moved from "white trash"

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Here is the old version of this article:

Racism is the belief, or more often the attitude, that one race is superior to another race or races--that is, that persons of a particular race are inherently superior to people of another race, or of all other races--because race determines important moral and personal character traits and capacities. Racists often believe that members of their own race are in need of protection from the allegedly inferior or superior race or races. Racism is sometimes seen as a type of xenophobia.

Closely related to racism is [racial discrimination]?, which is discrimination based on racial grounds.

Racism is and has been official policy in many countries. In the 1970s Uganda expelled tens of thousands of Indians, merely because of their race. Malaysia has discriminatory laws limiting university access to the ethnic Chinese.

In 1994, a book called The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, by [Richard J. Herrnstein]? and [Charles Murray]? (New York: Free Press), created a huge controversy in the United States. (We're going to want to represent this controversy as fairly as possible...)

Also see collectivism, hate crime, [civil rights movement]?, race, white supremacy, apartheid, race riot

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