The definition of racism until very recently was basically identical to “racial prejudice”. The alternative definition that requires systematic power over anot

The definition of racism until very recently was basically identical to “racial prejudice”. The alternative definition that requires systematic power over another group is a very recent and not the definition most commonly used by the general public now or historically, and by the way not even by highly educated people in universities in the past. The connection of that word with systematic power developed in the 1980s and beyond. That new definition is convenient for some people because it means that for example what would clearly have been racism by the old definition is not, when applied to the majority group using the new definition. This new definition is being taught to university students and lately even earlier than that. It has changed a neutral definition of racism that meant exactly “racial prejudice”, to one that is more useful for certain social aims of its proponents.