Edit: lol this dude is mad about the article I linked the other guy to because it was written by the associate dean of a private boarding school. Just ignore that its peer reviewed and published it must be grade school curriculum and you can dismiss it. And keep in mind I'm not saying that this is right and everyone else is wrong and using this as evidence as such, just saying that the idea isn't mine alone or born on tumblr

why are you mad it's not a new idea.

the distinction between prejudice and racism is an important one. Racism raises to the level of social structure the tendency to use superiority as a solution to discomfort about difference. Belief in superiority of Whites and the inferiority of people-of-color based on racial differences is legitimized by societal arrangements that exclude the latter from resources and power and then blame them for their failures, which are due to lack of access. Although these arrangements may exclude some persons who are White, people-of-color are affected in far greater proportions. A single policy or institution cannot be identified as the cause. It is rather the ways in which the total social system in which policies and institutions interlock and reinforce one another in their capacity to deprive and cripple many people-of-color while offering preparation, support, and opportunity to Whites. … Thus, while both Whites and people-of-color may harbor prejudice or bias, the bias of people of-color can usually not be used to reinforce advantage since they usually lack such power.

Pinderhughes (1989) Understanding Race, Ethnicity, & Power: The key to efficacy in clinical practice

The discomfort generated when a systemic definition of racism is introduced is usually quite visible in the workshops I lead. Someone in the group is usually quick to point out that this is not the definition you will find in most dictionaries. I reply, “Who wrote the dictionary?” I am not being facetious with this response. Whose interests are served by a “prejudice only” definition of racism? It is important to understand that the system of advantage is perpetuated when we do not acknowledge its existence. ( p. 9) When I am asked, “Can people of color be racist?” I reply, “The answer depends on your definition of racism.” If one defines racism as racial prejudice, the answer is yes. People of color can and do have racial prejudices. However, if one defines racism as a system of advantage based on race, the answer is no. People of color are not racist because they do not systemically benefit from racism. And equally important, there is no systematic cultural and institutional support or sanction for the racial bigotry of people of color. In my view, reserving the term racist for only the behaviors committed by Whites in the context of a White-dominated society is a way of acknowledging the ever present power differential afforded Whites by the culture and institutions that make up the system of advantage and continue to reinforce notions of White superiority. Despite my best efforts to explain my thinking on this point, there are some who will be troubled, perhaps even incensed, by my response. To call the racially motivated acts of a person of color acts of racial bigotry and to describe similar acts committed by Whites as racist will make no sense to some people, including some people of color. To those, I will respectfully say, “We can agree to disagree

Tatum (1997) Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? and other conversations about race