I think sometimes people are quick to lump ignorance with racism. Racism, specifically, has to have malice behind it.
As a slang term, I could be considered white. When I was 16, (oh gosh that's five years ago) I wrote a sstory takes place in lower Los Angeles where there should be a heavy Latino population, but instead most of the main characters in my story were white. The only Latino character in the book had the last name "Blackveil", and my editor, my friend Sarah told me this and said, "That's REALLY bad. You need to change that."
And I did. And I was a little guilty that I did that.
But I don't think I should be called racist. I mean, my transgression here is closer to racism than offering someone popcorn chicken, but in my defense, I just didn't know a lot of other people who weren't white, so an author writes about what they know.
Crying racism should be reserved for truely insulting or demeaning situations - because then it would be emotional self-defense. The word "racist" in and of itself is an insult and should be treated with the same caution as the racial slurs themselves. It should not turn into a complexed and nuanced system of what you can and cannot say, because with the censorship of ideas comes a power conflict.
And, everyone judges everyone else aesthetically. They judge their clothes, hair, style, weight. Skin color is no exception - it's just a striking difference when you see all the skin on someone else's body is a different hue/color than yours. That's why the blue man group is so trippy.
And then when you bring up the idea of reverse racism, or racism against white people, that's just the damage done by overly defensive minorities to overly sensitive white people...it's a whole ridiculous affair based on misunderstandings in the first place.
You cannot compare the word "c*acker" to "n*gro". Racial slurs only become racial slurs through historical creation and use. Why would calling a white person a cracker be considered hurtful? Because it's stereotypical? That's not the reason why n*gro is hurtful - n*gro is hurtful because of the history of slavery behind it. I don't think anyone ever died or was terribly mistreated while being called a c*acker.
But humans tend to find a reason to get angry either way. What I don't understand is how some white people can look down on black people for crying racism in certain situations, when they can be called so many hurtful names based on "darkness", "evil" or "demon"...
...and then turn around and cry "reverse racism" when they hear a seven letter word that describes a tasty, salty snack you can make out of baking soda and flour, and cures seasickness.
That's hypocrisy. And really weak hypocrisy. But sometimes people will resort to that simply so the can have the run of getting angry and indignant.
So in conclusion, during a misunderstanding or instance of prejudice based on the color of someone's skin, I wish instead of saying:
People would say,
"I'm sorry, you may be confused because history has left many people of my historical background impoverished, financially, academically or even morally, but let me assure you that as an individual I am blessed with a nourishing lifestyle not much different than yours. I'm sure you mean no malice by your words, and I don't blame you for them because I wouldn't want to reciprocate your ignorance with anger when I might have simply misunderstood you."
