Aleyka Ramirez 

Chicago Academy HS 

 
Reverse Racism 
 
 

​This past quarter, we have been reading George Orwell’s “1984” which takes place 

in a dystopian era when a new system was put in check by “Big Brother” and created a 

society called Oceania. As the novel progresses, the audience gains more knowledge of 

the new type of language called “Newspeak” and the slowly but surely diminishment of 

words to reduce thinking that would lead to resistance which were to be replaced with 

words that require no “thought” whatsoever. Relative to the language, words, known 

as “dog whistle” words, are used and spoken today. A “dog whistle” word can be 

described as ​a subtly aimed political message which is intended to be understood by a 

particular group. One phrase that is commonly spoken today is the term “reverse 

racism”. Many people, generally the white community in the U.S., use this term as a 

way to justify their own actions and thoughts when it comes to the racism minority 

groups face in America.  

The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC) website states, “Assumptions 

and stereotypes about white people are examples of racial prejudice, not racism.” ​The 

source here is stating that assumptions and stereotypes about white people are 

considered racial prejudice not reverse racism. The source is stating that the term is 

considered a myth because​ it tries to ignore the fundamental question of who holds 

more power/privilege between the individuals/groups involved. ​This word is directed 

to the minority community by the white community as they use this term to justify 

their acts of oppression towards minorities because “racism goes both ways”. Many 

confuse racism and prejudice as the same thing, but the difference is that racism 

encompasses discrimination and acts of oppression while racial prejudice is defined as 

a preconceived opinion not based on reason or actual experience. Prejudice is not the 

same as racism. Yes, there are minorities that belong to the black and hispanic 

communities that are open about their discontent for the white community but 

compared to the multiple acts of hate/oppression/racism that white people actually 

act upon, which most people of color do not, it is not the same. Acting upon one’s own 

thoughts and one verbally stating what they think are two different things.  

YR Media’s online article “Reverse Racism? Mmmm... Not A Thing.” states, “Our 

society is at a point where the oppressor has become the oppressed. Well, that’s what 

the oppressor thinks.” The oppressor believes they are becoming the oppressed. 

Which, in reality, is an attempt by the white people to feel victimized by a problem 

they created themselves. The Business Insider website states, “​To be guilty of racism, 

however, to be a racist, say the revision proponents, one must have power, and power 

of a special sort…” Racism is prejudice plus power. What political power does one 

person of color have over a white person? There has not been a law that simply 

oppresses people or “push them to a title that is less than” in America’s history unlike 

the black community has faced. White people were not the ones in chains. They were 

the ones that held the whip. What is “black privilege” compared to white privilege? 
Nothing. Because it does not exist in “the land of the free”. One cannot simply change 

the definition of racism to justify what they have been doing for centuries.