Forbidden Word: antiracist

¹anti n : one who is opposed

²anti prep : opposed to : AGAINST

anti- prefix 1 a : of the same kind but situated opposite, exerting energy in the opposite direction, or pursuing an opposite policy <anticlinal> b : one that is opposite in kind to <anticlimax>  2 a : opposing or hostile to in opinion, sympathy, or practice <anti-Semite>  b : opposing in effect or activity (as by inhibiting, curing, neutralizing, or combating) <antacid>

from Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Mass., G. & C. Merriam Co, 1967.

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racist n 1. a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that one’s own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.
— adj 2. of or like racists or racism: racist policies; racist attitudes.

from dictionary.com

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antiracist adj 1: opposing and making efforts to end policies, rules, behaviors, beliefs, etc. that result in a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others, based on race: He has spent more than ten years as a community organizer working with antiracist groups. anti-racist legislation.
— n 2: a person who opposes and makes efforts to end policies, rules, behaviors, beliefs, etc. that result in a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others, based on race.

from Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press.
(Antiracist, 2025)

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Example Sentences: antiracist

The study looked at antiracist education policies in Birmingham and Manchester.

He passed on the strong anti-racist attitudes learned from his grandfather and mother.

The debate has revealed many fractures within feminist and antiracist movements.

In reflecting on his own practices as an antiracist teacher, he argues for more nuanced and localized initiatives.

An anti-racist activist, he tore down stickers and posters for the National Front.

As Black and South Asian antiracists, have we done too little to include Chinese Britons in our campaigns?

When people defend themselves saying “It’s not a question of race, it’s a question of culture,” it is easy to understand why antiracists became impatient with the whole question of culture.

A zealous anti-racist, he apologised in 2007 for the role London played in the international slave trade of previous centuries.

from Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press.
(Antiracist, 2025)

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March 23, 2025
Hudson Valley, New York

image: Book Cover – How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi – from Internet Archive. (Read the book there, or buy it at a local bookstore).

This is one word you can’t say in the new Trump Administration. See a comprehensive list at the Forbidden Words Project.