Of course, it doesn’t have to. If I said something that I didn’t realize was racist (let’s say that I said, “wow, that eBay seller really gypped you”) and someone came in and said, "you know, that’s a pretty racist thing to say – it’s a derogatory reference to the Roma people, “gypsies”, it’s perfectly fine to just apologize (“wow! That connection never occurred to me. I won’t do it again”) and just move on.