“I also see half the liberals that I know as racists. I see almost every white person who lives in the suburbs and who has a job and an income with benefits as a racist. I probably think you are a racist. You may think I’m over doing it, you may think I’m being unfair, you may think I’ve oversimplified, and you may think I’ve got it wrong.”

I don’t know.

Maybe it depends on what we mean by racist? We’re all raised in a cultural matrix / zeitgeist(?) / context which has a lot of racism in it. A lot of stereotypes float around and get repeated and become a sort of cultural background but then some people recognise this and try to fight back against it whilst still perhaps being influenced by it to varying degrees and at various times.

There’s a big difference between someone who spouts and believes in KKK type rhetoric and someone who slips up by repeating the odd racist cliche from time to time whilst not actually thinking races mean anything.

Perhaps there’s a spectrum we all (mostly?) fall on perhaps with extremes at each end from the KK to committed anti-racist activist who evaluate each word fro any overtones of racism at all?

There’s racist ideas and acts but I think most people if asked will say they opposed racism at least in principle and overt open racism is now socially really unacceptable hence the strong offended defensive reaction whenever anyone is called a racist. So is that progress? I think so even if some of us, many of us probably still have a lot way to go.

Pedantically Ill also note that many white folks without jobs and good income and /or not suburban but rural are also racist -indeed , from what I gather many of the most racist are also the poorest least financially secure rural folks due to lack of education, experience, increased fear of competition from out-groups etc ..

I am someone who always tries to judge individuals based only on their actions not their skin colour or other superficial physical traits. (Or gender, even religion etc ..) I don’t think “race” even really exists outside our cultural mythology – it is socially constructed not something actually real. Oh & I’m an Australian from European heritage and of caucasian “race” FWIW.

So am I racist?

I guess if one has to ask one is eh?

But I don’t know. I do know that I do try not to be and hopefully succeed in that. I think there are many others who feel the same way and try to do the same.

(Yeah, unlikely but still, who knows! 2016 still a political eternity away and a lot can happen in that time.)