What is not racism?

BEFORE YOU READ THINS YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT THAT ARTICLE AND THE COMMENTS IT PROVOKED.

Very interesting article.
Instead of trying to solve the race problem, maybe we should try to learn how to reduce it.
I think the next step to this movement is for everyone to start informing eachother.

What is racism? (looking for comments here)

If you can ask yourself what is racism, you can ask yourself, WHAT IS NOT RACISM?

People seem to be looking for racism and perhaps they are finding it because that it is what they are looking for.

The article said people are looking for racism and waiting to pull out their race card, so it makes me wonder... How many people are looking for racism on a day-to-day basis? My gut tells me this would have a profound increase on the very thing we are trying to eliminate.

With complex issue like racism, let us do what mathematicians do... Eliminate what it is not.

What do I think racism is not?.....
I don't think calling people that like trucks and guns "rednecks" is racist. They are just a group of kids that like guns and trucks... B.F.D... they are a group of friends with similar interests. Instead of taking offense, let us be careful about how we say things, but more importantly, let us be careful on how we interpret things. It does not mean that all people from a small town are "rednecks," or anything else. I just mean the person who wrote that comment noticed some people were potentially being racist. This comes back to what I was talking about with the symbols. What a symbol means to me may not mean the same thing to others, so we need to be aware of both sides of interpretations. Eliminating as much confusion/misunderstanding as possible will benefit us greatly.


I think that understanding what racism is not will reduce it as a whole. Not only that, but it will make this complex problem a little simpler. Once we can understand what racism is not, then we will all have a better idea on what it really is.

In other words, my approach is to minimize the definition of racism to the best of our ability. By doing this we will reduce it as a whole, increase our understanding and perhaps find a more practicle approach to eliminating racism once and for all. Maybe not in our life times, but maybe in our children's...

Does anyone know what I am talking about, or am I just crazy?
I would really appreciate your feedback.

What is racism?
What is not?
Is this a good idea or a bad one?

Please help!

Excellent Article on the Discussion of Race

Here is a really thought provoking op-ed piece by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald on why we as a society are lousy at discussing race in a meaningful way. Check it out and leave your thoughts. I'm going to chime in later with my thoughts.