"Racism" is a system where a racial group with a monopoly on power in society arranges the rules of that society to continue priveleging their own racial group. "Bigotry" is when you dislike someone because of their race. And the comments that everyone on HN are getting all in their feelings about are neither bigoted nor racist; they are basic, uncontroversial observations from people who have been doing anti-racist and anti-sexist work since before most members of HN's audience had heard either of those terms.
That's not the standard definition of racism. You're repeating a variation of "racism = prejudice + power", a component of the social justice meme I've been seeing everywhere.
To me it seems like rhetorical sleight of hand, redefining "racism" to depend on a mysterious "power" component which is never adequately demonstrated or explained, or only explained in terms which are themselves actually racist, e.g., "whites have power because most politicians are white".
So I should place "critical race theory" squarely in the camp of theories that do not have the elements of a scientific theories. Redefining words with a commonly accepted usage to further an agenda is academically dishonest, IMHO.
In other words, "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man."
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." - Philip K Dick.
