What is "racism" in antiracist education?

Antiracist education must operate with a conception of "racism." A commonly held definition is that racism is a system of advantage and power of white people over people of color. Reviewing this set of recent books on antirac ist education, I argue that this definition is both too Dread (white privil ege is an important race-related injustice yet is not racism) and too narro w (not all racist actions contribute to a system of advantage or power). Th e definition's focus on effects rather than individual prejudice paradoxica lly blinds us to the manifold racial and nonracial causes of racial dispari ty and injustice, and constricts educational inquiry. The definition also m asks the range and plurality of moral, civic, and social aims of antiracist education-reducing racial stereotypes, learning respect for persons of dif ferent races, intervening in racist incidents, promoting interracial tolera nce and understanding, recognizing one's racial privilege and responding co nstructively to that recognition, committing oneself to making one's local environment a more hospitable place for persons of all races, battling raci al injustice. A broadened conception of antiracist education goes hand in h and with a more complex understanding of racism itself.