The American dictionary, Merriam-Webster, will be changing its definition of "racism" after receiving an email from a black woman, per the BBC.

Kennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University, Iowa, got in contact with Merriam-Webster to suggest that the definition should include a reference to systemic oppression.

An editor responded, and later agreed to update the definition.

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This comes after a slew of anti-racism protests swept the United States and other major cities across the globe, following the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, a black man, was arrested by Minneapolis police on Monday, May 25, for reportedly using a counterfeit $20 note in a store. While being detained, ex-cop Derek Chauvin - a 19-year veteran of the force - knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter, while the three other arresting officers have been charged with aiding and abetting murder.

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As the publication details, Mitchum has encountered people who used the dictionary definition of "racism" to prove that they were not racist because of the way they felt towards people of colour, and their personal relationships.

She believes that the definition needs to encompass institutionalized issues of racial inequality in society.

Merriam-Webster's current definition of racism reads:

"A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

A doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles, b) a political or social system founded on racism

Racial prejudice or discrimination."

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"I was just speaking on my social media about racism and just about how the things I was experiencing in my own school and my own college," Mitchum told the BBC. "There were a lot of things that were racist but it wasn't as blatant."

On the 28th May, Mitchum emailed Merriam-Webster, highlighting that racism is "both prejudice combined with social and institutional power. It is a system of advantage based on skin colour".

After a brief exchange, Merriam-Webster replied that the "issue needed to be addressed sooner rather than later," and that a revision would be made.

Merriam-Webster's editorial manager Peter Sokolowski told the BBC that the wording of the second definition of racism will be "even more clear in our next release. It could be expanded... to include the term systemic and it will certainly have one or two example sentences, at least."

The team working on implementing a new definition will be consulting the work of experts in black studies, per the publication - which also said that the revision could be made by August, this year.

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Merriam-Webster dictionary agrees to update definition of racism