I had a major battle on Amazon about a book I said was racist. Many people said, “No, it isn’t. The author is an avowed Boston liberal.”

I’m sure he Is and no doubt believes this is enough to officially make him not a racist. Except he wrote like a racist. Every time he mentioned someone of color, he referred to his or her color.

Tears never ran down their cheeks. The tears ran down their black cheeks. They didn’t have hands. They had brown hands or black hands. Not once were the Natives of the region ever mentioned a person or child without in indicating their race. Their name might be forgotten, but never their race.

If that isn’t racism, what is it?

Passive racism? What does that mean? After all, people who feel that way don’t attend racist rallies or carry fascist flags. But these are the friends who would never visit us when we lived in a Black neighborhood because they were sure they would be mugged or shot by our neighbors — most of whom were police officers, one of whom was a guard at a city prison, and two of whom were Sheriffs.

We had less crime there than we had while living on Beacon Hill. Far less. No one broke into our house or vandalized our cars and no one stole our cars, both of which were stolen while we lived on Beacon Hill or tried to swipe things from our deliverers which was a constant problem on “the Hill.” Racism isn’t only the white-hooded, marching and shouting kind. It’s an attitude. A belief that says that dark-skinned people are more violent, predatory, and criminal. Different in bad ways. Dangerous. Gun-toting. This kind of “passive ‘I’m really a liberal’ ” racism is particularly easy to pretend doesn’t exist.

Without significant attitudinal changes, it will never go away.

Racism runs deep in this country. North, south, east and west and without regard for ethnicity or political agenda. You’ll find it in your household, your neighborhood, your church. Your “liberal friends” who won’t go anywhere that isn’t known as a “safe, white” neighborhood. These are the people who prevent non-white people from being promoted at work without actually saying anything. They keep them from getting scholarships, from getting into management positions. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

The ones who are constantly complain that “equal opportunity” is ruining their work because dark-skinned people or immigrants (or both) are stealing their jobs. The same morons who never consider they don’t get promoted because they don’t work hard enough and aren’t very good at what they do. The same people who bitch that “political correctness” is keeping them from calling people “n#gg#rs.” Who would use that word — with or without political correctness — as a measure of anything except the bottom of the barrel of racism and bigotry?

These folks are cops and judges. Office managers. Parole officers. Social workers. Teachers. They are your drinking buddies, the barkeeper, and the kids your kids play with. The first step to making this problem begin to go away is to figure out where you stand on this. Are you a racist? A nice, quiet, suburban racist?

Are you a racist? Think about it. Get back to me on it.

Categories: #American-history, #Photography, Personal, Racism and Bigotry

Tags: #American-history, #Photography, attitudes, bigotry, Personal, racism, white supremacy