Race is a very touchy subject. I wasn't alive during the struggles of the mid-20th century. I don't know what racism was like then or before. I cannot compare today's racial atmosphere to those eras.
Today's era seems to be one that speaks frequently about racism and racist ideas. You may do things you would not consider racist. Unfortunately, if you continue you are a racist who practices racism.
You may want to take this quiz to determine how big a racist you really are.
Let's start with defining the term racist. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, racist means "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism). The Oxford and dictionary.com dictionaries define "racist" very similarly. The main component of each definition is that one feels their race is superior to others.
- Question 1: Do you feel that you are superior to a whole class of people solely because of their race? Yes? You are racist.
- Question 2: Did you disagree with any policy that President Barack Obama advocated or signed into law? Yes? You are racist.
This standard was set into motion during Obama's time in office. Any time a person disagrees with a policy decision of the United States' president it is due to racism. You may want to rethink your vocal disagreement with the current and all future presidents unless you want everyone to know how racist you really are.
- Question 3: Do you make corrections to other people's grammar? Yes? You are racist.
For years I thought someone who was overly picky about obscure grammar errors was a grammar Nazi. I also thought calling someone a Nazi was a bit of a stretch. Turns out the person who came up with that term was ahead of his time.
The waterlogged brain-trust at the University of Washington - in the anti-racist statement on the UW-Tacoma's writing center's website - states, in part, "Racism is the normal condition of things. Racism is pervasive. It is in the systems, structures, rules, languages, expectations, and guidelines that make up our classes, school, and society. For example, linguistic and writing research has shown clearly for many decades that there is no inherent 'standard' of English. Language is constantly changing. These two facts make it very difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate in particular versions of English."
Sorry, grammar, you need to stop being racist. If you nitpick someone else's grammar then you are racist.
If you said yes to any of the three questions then you are racist. You must take action to stop being racist. It is your choice whether or not to continue your racist ways.
I know what you're thinking. You are going to argue that you're not racist because . That is certainly cute that you think you're not racist.
There is one other option. I suppose it is theoretically possible that you're not racist even if you answered yes to Question 2 or Question 3.
Instead of calling you racist because you correct other people's grammar errors or that you disagree with the president, our society should stick to the definition of racist.
Think about the movie "The Princess Bride" where a character is always saying "inconceivable." Finally another character says, "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means."
The social justice warriors need to have the same thing said to them. This may slow down the spread of the word racism as it covers more and more actions humans perform daily, which causes it to control each and every aspect of life.
Scotty Anderson is a computer programmer who enjoys serving the community through various community-oriented service jobs.
