Those of us born in the twentieth century are among the first to learn that race is not a thing worthy of such things as loyalty, respect, disrespect, enmity, or any other feeling. Racism is endemic in the world, and the chances are that you and the person accusing you are both racists. If one of you is aware of his own racism, then he, at least is actively examining the content of his character. That person has the benefit of the ability to change himself.
Don’t deny the accusation. Simply state that you seek to better yourself, and learn to assess those you meet on the basis of their actions, rather than their origins. Offer an apology if you have inadvertently offended them. Ask what you did that seems to them to be racist.
You might not win the verbal exchange, in the sense of a contest. But you will benefit, in the long term, because resentment for the imagined slight will be just as harmful to you as would the resentment from any real prejudice. Odd how prejudice works its ill even when it is not real.
Tris
“The road to truth is long, and lined the entire way with annoying bastards.” ~ Alexander Jablokov ~
As the more overt forms of racism have moved underground or vanished, the word ‘racist’ has come to be abused.
It used to mean “someone who believes others are inferior because of their race”.
Unfortunately often, it now is used to mean “a white person who is winning an argument about race”. As such, it is meant to shut down the argument.
Sometimes this is justified, as discussions sometimes are going nowhere. Sometimes not.
I was sad the first time I was called a racist (I oppose affirmative action) and realized I didn’t care. Now, if and when I really display racism, I will probably not notice it.
Regards,
Shodan
“Some of my best friends are - oh, never mind.”
“I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless!”
GySgt Hartman, USMC
“This is my rifle; this is my gun,
This is for fighting; this is for fun.”
People have been bandying this definition around in this thread. I think a better one would be: **“Someone who believes in the concept of race.” **
Period. It doesn’t exist, biologically speaking, even though people on all sides and of all colors are working their asses off to keep the concept alive as intermarriage rapidly erodes any visible distinctions.
What race is my friend whose father is a New England WASP and whose mother is half Filipino, half Chinese? What race is the new daughter of my New York Jewish friend and her husband from Northern England? Or the kids of my Indian friend and her redheaded Irish Catholic husband?
Sorry. Didn’t mean for that to come off sounding so high-handed. Anyhoo, just thought a better definition was in order.
To relate this to the OP, I guess you could sidetrack the accuser by lengthily declaiming the very notion that “race” is a vaild concept, and that the accuser is deluding him- or herself by thing it is so.
