What is racism? A question that presents itself as a kind of ultimate test. In the woke view, racism describes a system whose meaning most people do not understand. Woke activists engage in targeted manipulation with the pairs of terms antiracism and racism.
From a woke perspective, racism as a system does not describe an individual attitude or action but a structure of discrimination with unequal power relations: racism is a (racial) system that guarantees certain dominant groups access to privileges. Unequal power relations through privileges are the prerequisite for racism, which is allegedly anchored in all areas of society.370
From a woke perspective, systemic racism can be statistically proven: any inequality between groups is considered evidence; by definition, there are to be no other explanations for inequality.371
Antiracist theories are based on binary divisions: beyond the binary categorisation (racist/antiracist) there are to be no non-racist positions, as racism allegedly influences all actions.372 Anyone who is not an engaged antiracist activist acts (at least passively) racist. The fight against racism requires activism as a self-reflective, contradictory, and in principle never-ending practice.373
Marginalised people have a right to resistance in the face of structural discrimination.374 Since they allegedly lack access to power, there can be no racism against white people (racial discrimination against whites ≠ racism).
For white people, being actively antiracist means acknowledging their own involvement in the racist system. White persons must not claim to be non-racist if they are to fight as allies against the system. Instead, they are to strive to become less racist. According to the author Robin DiAngelo, white antiracism is primarily about becoming less white.375
Such obscure notions about societal systems, structures, and power relations form the basis of “anti-racist” perspectives (see CRT and conspiracy theory).