I have recently read a blog post on Huffington Post entitled "Why I'm a Racist..." In it, the author essentially describes a definition of racism, using his own life and situation. As first I thought that the article was satirical, but it did not take long to realise that he is completely serious, and I disagree with him strongly. Based on what he describes of himself, his family, and his upbringing, I could not honestly call him racist. He seems to me a very decent human being with very progressive intentions. His definition of racism, as I understand it, is broad to the point of being meaningless.
He explicitly says that he is not describing his racism as outright bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination on the basis of skin colour -- though I have no doubt that he understands these things as racism. He describes it as the very fact of being white and therefore not subject to the negative stereotypes and other perceptions that lead to inequities in terms of the judgement of character and behaviour. While it may be true that he does not have to worry about these things, I think that only makes him fortunate and not racist.
Let's take a hypothetical situation. Let's make the author a black man raised in a reasonably well-off family in a region where racism simply is not an issue. His community is multi-cultural both in composition and character and therefore people judge each other based on their individual merits and virtues. He therefore lives quite apart from the inequities that black men face in other communities. He is ignorant, for example, of what it is like to have to worry about getting shot by a police officer for mistakenly moving the wrong way when reaching for his wallet. Is he still racist? I think that a ridiculous notion.
Being racist has nothing to do with the colour of one's skin, or the social climate of one's upbringing and community relative to others. It is not about how little one has been denigrated or denied. It's about what one believes about others based on their ethnic identity or skin colour. Belief and intent, and often the actions that result from them, are central to defining racism.
Including accidents of birth and upbringing as making one racist dilutes serious instances of racism. It also unnecessarily denigrates otherwise decent people. I feel that it fosters a tribalistic "with us or against us" mentality that does not match reality. I would agree completely with the author that it is best to actively fight against social inequities, but inactivity -- however much it honestly does not help matters -- is not the same as being racist.
