Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on somebody's race. Face racism, fight racism, institutional racism.
It covers individual prejudice and the structures that produce unequal outcomes without anybody intending them, which is what institutional racism means — a term that entered British public language through the Macpherson report in 1999. Racial discrimination is unlawful in most countries. Note racist as both noun and adjective; anti-racism; and that racism as a word is only about a century old, though the thing is not.
1nounracismPrejudice or discrimination based on somebody's race.
“The school has a clear policy against racism and bullying.”
racism is a form of prejudice.
French racisme is race plus -isme, and English borrowed it in the 1930s. The word was needed to name what the ideologies of that decade were doing, which is why it appears so late.
French
racisme
English, today
racism
French racisme, equivalent to race + -ism.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA