A New Kind of Racism

Racism is rampant today. We're not necessarily talking about racism of the slurs and rights violations variety (though that most certainly exists to some degree). We're talking about racism without racists. Now, that might sound like a bit of a contradiction, but it really makes sense. The number of outright racists has decreased over time, but prejudice is still very much alive. Racism without racists is unconscious racism. It's when a woman automatically holds her purse closer to her when she walks past a black man. It's when you quietly wonder to yourself why a biracial couple chose to get married. It's when you avoid eye-contact with a Hispanic adult because you assume they can't speak English. It's the kind of racism constantly faced by racial minorities-including President Obama. Does this kind of racism make you a bad person? Well, no. Because you're not exactly a racist. We all have our set of prejudices embedded into our subconscious by our surroundings and the way we're raised. So shouldn't we take a look at what's wrong with those "surroundings" and the ideologies behind them?

For an article providing greater detail:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/opinion/05kristof.html?_r=2