Extending the Critical Context

I cannot remember a time where I have been confronted about race. However, due to the media our society has become more aware that the word racism is overused, and the continuous use of the term racism has heightened my awareness and concern of political correctness. Even though I have not personally come into a confrontation about race, it does cause a conversion to come to a halt. The media uses the word racism all the time, and it has gotten to the point where we don’t know if we use the word correctly anymore. It halts many of our conversations because we no longer use racism as it is understood. So, now I am concerned that when I speak I don’t want to come off as a racist. The term now, is difficult to determine, which is what Wachtel stated, “no one owns a platinum dictionary that is the final arbiter of what the word “racism” should refer to.” (Rereading America) We need to be sensitive to the appropriate language used, and not make a speech based on political implications because most people in the media today use the word racism for political reasons and not as its intended use.