Racism, according to Dictionary.com, is defined as “A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.” On the other hand, when “reverse-racism” is typed into this same dictionary-based search engine, an actual definition cannot be found. Instead, multiple Tumblr blogs popped up, with one of them saying that reverse racism is “…topics and events that some may perceive to be racist, racially biased, and/or biased towards those with privilege in the U.S.”.

Now if you are wondering who those “with privilege” are, take a guess.

Make up your mind?

Well, it is white people. Reverse racism is basically racism against white people.

So first off, let me start off by saying that reverse racism is NOT an actual thing: it is simply racism. Singling someone out due to their skin color, a choice that no one, save Michael Jackson, had control over, is inherently wrong. It does not matter whether your skin is as white as milk or as black as a starless sky; treating someone differently because of this one trait alone is absolutely absurd and downright despicable.

The whole concept of “reverse racism” is also inherently wrong because that means that only white people can be racist, which is completely false. Any single person, from an Arab to a Russian, can be equally racist towards those who do not look similar to them.

On top of this, singling out white people, or those “with privilege,” is in itself racist. Saying that just because you are white means that you are instantly guaranteed a life without obstacles is absurd. Just because you are born to a white family does not mean you will not face hardship and struggle; you invariably will at some point in your life. Just because you are born white does not instantly make all of your life’s problems vanish or lessen the ones that you are currently dealing with.

Implying that there is “reverse racism” also diminishes the actual severity of any racist remarks or comments made towards white people, because it actually does happen. Just because a white person is facing racism does not make it any different than if an African person, Latino person, Asian person, or Middle Eastern person experienced the same sort of racism that said White person did.

While I am on a similar topic, I would like to dispel the notion of another similar idea, often labeled “reverse sexism,” which is defined as discrimination against men, normally by women. Again, this phrase is completely untrue because if a woman treated a man differently for the sole fact that he was a man (a choice which, like picking what race or color you are, is not one you have control over), then it is just sexism. Again, implying that there is reverse sexism implies that only men can be sexist, which is completely untrue. Both men and women can be sexist, just like a black man and a white man can both be racist.

At the ending of the day, racism itself is inherently wrong. Whether it is done by a white man, black man, Latino man, or any other type of person, it is still just racism. There is no such thing as reverse racism because that would have the overall implication of one race of people being that only ones who could say racist remarks, which is wrong.

Anyone has the potential to be racist, but the choice to actually be racist or not all boils down to one deciding factor, and that factor is you.