Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
There really are two forms of racism. One is personally acting or harboring racist views. Another is the societal structures all around us that perpetuate it. I think a lot of people confuse the two. I also think a lot of people accuse a person of being racist when the better way to state it without facing pushback would be to say "you're part of a racist system." If you get society, broadly, to accept that fact, who cares whether someone quibbles with whether he himself is personally a racist.
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I think what you are missing is that people -- in particular, white people, but really all people -- do an awful lot to perpetuate racism even if they don't personally act out of or harbor what you would call racist views. Societal structures are not made of stucco or brick -- they are people, acting consciously. They may not realize that they are perpetuating racism, but they are.
Someone who is willing broadly to accept that societal structures, broadly, are racist but who disagrees that he or she is personally involved in that is someone who is in denial and who will be part of the problem, not part of a solution.
