One pretty good definition of racism in my book is: racism=prejudice+power. It is safe to say that prejudice exists across all populations, whether it is based on skin color, educational attainment, or political leanings. The in-group/out-group prejudice seems to be well baked in and perhaps used to confer some survival advantage. Having said that, the concept of biological race has no scientific basis whatsoever. Across all studies of “races” the individual variations within the given population are always greater than between different populations. Additionally, there’s no way to untangle what traits are genetic and what is caused by circumstances of one’s upbringing. It is also important to understand the history of the concept of “race” and its much more recent counterpart of “biological race”. The former has its origins in 14th century Iberian Peninsula, the latter – 19th century eugenics movement. I am sure that I need not remind anyone how Eastern European Jewish “race” was viewed by the American eugenicists at the turn of 20th century. Back then, “everyone knew” that Jews were filthy, criminally inclined undesirables with below average intelligence. Ditto Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc., etc.
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