You could yell the word \u201cracist\u201d at me and I will not be bothered. Because I am confident that I have done, and will continue to do, everything in my power to assure that it does not apply to me, and that\u2019s a great deal more than simply saying \u201cno, I\u2019m not\u201d. In order to assure that the word doesn\u2019t apply to me, I constantly ask myself, with a very sincere desire to know the true answer, \u201cam I?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an uncomfortable question, and the answer sometimes comes back, \u201cYes.\u201d Then I know I have work to do. If I never ask, if I never really want the answer, then the accusation would have weight. Then it would bother me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I wouldn\u2019t be sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I see people angered when they hear the word directed at them. It\u2019s clear that they know that racism is undesirable. But their thought process seems to be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRacism is bad. I know this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am not bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore I am not racist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That doesn\u2019t work, because there is no question. There is a palliative conclusion founded on seriously flawed logic. No changes take place in that process, because there is no desire for change. There\u2019s only a desire to dismiss the idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It isn\u2019t enough to say \u201cThat\u2019s not me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t