ST. LOUIS — A woman from St. Louis is making her voice heard across the world.
Merriam-Webster is making a revision on its definition of ‘racism’ after the persistence of a young St. Louis woman.
Nerinx Hall said that Kennedy Mitchum felt that Merriam-Webster’s definition lacked the historical perspective of systemic oppression in defining racism. The school said Mitchum also pointed out there were many essential words/terms connected to racism not present in the Merriam-Webster version of the dictionary.
This led to a series of emails with Merriam-Webster editors, and Mitchum would not give up the fight despite editors saying words were never changed due to request or petition.
Nerinx Hall said Mitchum received some good news on June 4.
The school said an editor wrote back to Mitchum, “A revision to the entry for racism is now being drafted and added to the dictionary soon, and we are also planning to revise the entries of other words that are related to racism or have racial connotations...We ask for your patience as we review the large body of evidence for this word...This revision would not have been made without your persistence in contacting us about this problem. I will see to it that the entry for racism is given the attention it sorely needs.”
Merriam-Webster's current definition of racism: "A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."
Drake University said that the dictionary hopes to have a new definition released in a few months.
Mitchum graduated from Nerinx Hall in 2016 and recently graduated from Drake University with double majors in journalism & mass communications and politics.
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