Originally Posted by Definition of Racism, Women's Theological Center, Boston, MA

A situation in which one race maintains supremacy over another race through a set of attitudes, behaviors, social structures and ideologies. It involves four essential and interconnected elements:

Power: the capacity to make and enforce decisions is disproportionately or unfairly distributed

Resources: unequal access to such resources as money, education, information, etc.

Standards: standards for appropriate behavior are ethnocentric, reflecting and privileging the norms and values of the dominant race/society

Problem: involves defining "reality" by naming "the problem" incorrectly, and thus misplacing it.