I am a white male who has been involved in race relations work for a substantial part of the past twenty years. I have also been involved in a relationship with a Black person who is the love of my life for the past two decades. I mention those facts only to say that I have been party to countless discussions about racism—and never, until I read this post, have I seen the term defined in a manner that requires a power differential between the racist and his/her target—by either whites or Blacks. It is generally used as a synonym of prejudice, bias, etc.

Please don’t misunderstand me—I am not objecting to the definition that you offer. It makes a lot of sense to give it the nuance that you do; colorism exhibited by a person with power is very different from colorism exhibited by an individual lacking power. In the future, I will use the word in that more specific and narrow sense.

I am simply saying that there is still a great deal of education that needs to be done before this more nuanced meaning becomes common—and white males aren’t the only ones who have yet to adopt this definition.

In any event, great article!