Defining our words and using them carefully is critical in moving forward towards solutions for Racism.  In the US, our Racism has had the power and privilege residing in lighter-skinned people, mostly from Europe and Asia.  The subordinate group has been darker-skinned people, mostly from Africa and Central/South America.

Other incidents of Racism have dotted modern history with variations on the above theme.  When the power base is established, usually through an initial atrocity involving warfare, genocide, slavery, or invasion, the dominant and subordinate classes are defined.  Done.

Then we can watch racism erupt, when individuals adopt prejudice, bigotry, and hatred towards the subordinate class.  You can certainly understand how the subordinate class would not be happy about that and would quickly develop appropriately negative attitudes towards the dominant class.

In fact, we have a famous fictional character to describe what it looks like when a Black person doesn't outwardly develop these attitudes.  Calling a Black person an "Uncle Tom" is accusing them of being compliant with the Racist power structure.

This natural animosity toward an imbalance of power is NOT Reverse Racism, because the power and privilege dynamics have not changed. If a Black person calls out a white for being racist, they do not become a reverse racist.  They may be prejudiced, meaning taking the behavior of other whites and attributing it to the person in front of them.  That is not helpful, especially if the person in front of them is you and you know you are not racist.  But we can certainly work through our own prejudice to understand how it can happen. 

When whites make an attempt to eliminate Racism by giving Blacks an equal opportunity for advancement (sometimes called affirmative action), this is also not Reverse Racism.  Since we have not leveled the playing field yet in so many measurable areas (education, wages, healthcare, etc.), we can't claim that the dominant class has become subordinate.  Giving a Black person some help in navigating a Racist system is more than reasonable and still not yet sufficient to fix the problem.

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt discriminated against because of a Black person's advancement?  Did you find yourself calling this episode Reverse Racism?  Were you mad?  Are you aware of affirmative action initiatives at schools you attended or employers where you worked?  Did you see those plans as causing you a disadvantage?  Or did you see the diversity that resulted as enhancing your experience there? 

Your practice today is to think about places where whites continue to be the predominant participants in an activity?  What action could be taken to help encourage Black people to participate? What barriers exist that restrict participation?  You might notice that transportation to activities is harder from areas where Black families live or that enrollment applications aren't made easily available to people from Black communities.  How would you feel if those barriers were reduced or eliminated?  Even if it meant that there wasn't room for you when you wanted to gain entrance?  Would you consider this Reverse Racism?