Racism - The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.

Source: Anti-defamation League.org/racism

Racism, also called racialism, the belief that humans may be divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races”; that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural and behavioral features; and that some races are innately superior to others. The term is also applied to political, economic, or legal institutions and systems that engage in or perpetuate discrimination on the basis of race or otherwise reinforce racial inequalities in wealth and income, education, health care, civil rights, and other areas.

Source: Audrey Smedley, Professor of Anthropology, Virginia Commonwealth University. Author of Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview.

Racism - A system of advantage and oppression based on race. A way of organizing society based on dominance and subordination based on race. Racism penetrates every aspect of personal, cultural, and institutional life. It includes prejudice against people of color, as well as exclusion, discrimination against, suspicion of, and fear and hate of people of color.

Source: Equity in the Center