Did the modern use of the term “Racism” originate from the Nazi persecution of Jews

Question

I was watching a YouTube video arguing the redefining of “racism” as “prejudice plus power” is problematic for its applications within progressive and activist circles (ex: “black people and minorities can’t be racist”). It argues that the modern understanding of the term initially came not from the institution of slavery and systemic racism in the U.S. (ex: Slavery, Jim Crow, etc), but Nazi Germany’s persecution of its Jewish minority. He also argued than within Weimar Germany, Jews were (compared to other Germans) doing better economically and perceived to have “power”. Here is my question: **- Is it true the modern use of the term “racism” originated from the Nazi persecution of Jews?**

Answer 1

This is not true at all. The term racism significantly predates WWII and has its origins in the Atlantic slave trade, and the first printed use of the word racism in the modern sense of the word with full negative connotations was in 1903. The word may have come into common use because of the way Nazis politically applied it, but it existed well before them, and the bad science behind the concepts of racism was hundreds of years old by that point. His point about Jews living under the Weimar government was also false.

There are a lot of neo-Nazis and Nazi sympathizers on YouTube these days. Please be careful what you watch, because it sounds like this video was convincing enough to make you question yourself, which is one of the first steps on the road towards radicalization into joining these movements.