Teacher's 'terrorist' joke no laughing matter for student

If we're being purely semantic, the term racism covers both definitions. It may refer to someone who adheres to the doctrine that inherent differences between the races exist rendering one race superior to the others. It can also mean simple bigotry. Neither definition is wrong, and colloquially the latter is far more common.

And anyone who thinks racism is dead is blind. I have been spit and slurred at from a truck on a university campus. I have been denied service at a local restaurant, with incontrovertible evidence that it was due to the color of my skin. These are not isolated instances, though these are the two most conspicuous experiences that I can recall at my university. Subtler forms of racism are so frequent that they are simply prosaic. Though racism may not be a novel concept, it is an unnecessary affliction on humanity. The passive approach advocated by Sheerx neglects and exacerbates a serious problem. Vituperation is the only appropriate response to racism.