Missouri Woman Prompts Merriam-Webster to Redefine ‘Racism’

Merriam-Webster is revising its definition of racism after a Missouri woman’s emails claimed it fell short of including the systemic oppression of certain groups of people.

KMOV-TV reports that Kennedy Mitchum says people would argue with her about the definition of racism and she realized the problem was in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.

Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster, says the definition also covers the sense that Mitchum was seeking, and they will make its wording even more clear in the next release.

He says this is the kind of continuous revision that is part of keeping the dictionary up to date.