Defining Race

The way we think about race is changing. Consider a Toronto Star story from December summarizing an important study on police carding: “Random street checks, or carding, should be banned as there is little evidence to show the practice is useful in reducing crime, while it disproportionately affects racialized individuals.” Had a similar story appeared ten years ago, it would have referred to the harmful effect carding has on visible or racial minorities. Unlike these older labels, the new term “racialized” suggests race is something imposed on people by society.

The difference between the new conception of race and its older counterparts is nicely summed up by City University of New York philosopher Charles Mills: “People are ‘raced’ according to particular rules—we shift from a noun to a verb, from a pre-existing ‘natural’ state to an active social process—and these ascribed...