Skin a different color?
Okay.

Hair a different texture?
Okay.

Speak a different language?
Okay.

Have different socio cultural mores?
Okay.

From a different country?
Okay.

All these things mean what they mean, they matter when and how they matter--and none of them point to anything that leads me to feel separateness.

I'm not a make-up artist: your skin color is nothing I need to worry about.

I'm not a hair-dresser: the texture of your hair is not my concern.

I'm not an authoritarian despot: your language, values, or nationality are not my business.

You're a person.

You're a person.

You're a person.

You're a person.

You're a person.

You love, you fear, you desire, you hunger just as I do. Not in exactly the same ways--perhaps in very different ways--but the underlying experience is consistently human.

I don't want anyone else to fail to see the fullness of my humanity through any blinders they may wear--so I work to keep my own vision clear.

Humans come in all shapes, sizes, colors, textures, languages, cultures, countries, societies, religions...but only one "race."

Hell yeah I am racist! All you humans are f#@king idiots!

I adhere to the concept that we are human. ALL of us.

That said, sociologists noted traits in peoples of different regions. This includes things like heavy, 'folded' eyelids. Course curly hair, vs fine straight hair. Or fine but curly hair. If a region tends to one hair color, that will be noted. In short my introduction to sociology was about categorization but I don't recall reading anything about one trait being superior to another though there were theories posed about adaptation to climate.

I DO hold to the idea that race was invented as a political tool to keep certain peoples down, and to help other people flourish/profit.

In short: we are all mutts and race is a false construct designed specifically to divide us.

Saying that race doesn't exist is denying that some of our history is real and potentially trying to say it never happened, OR at least it can be seen that way. Thus, I don't try to throw out the term, nor the concept. I DO however, work to not be racist.

One more idea comes up... do we habitually flock to our perceived 'kind'? I have noticed this and I like Freemans comment on it as "tribalism" because it really isn't about race (I too am a mutt, I have a genetic trait that says I am black, middle eastern or asian but I look nothing like any of the above). What it really is about, I think, is fear. So, you group up with those who give you comfort and that might be along lines that you and I would call 'racist' though, in reality, this may not be the real intent/focus of the action.

Final thought: I think 'racist' is a bit like 'lady' but inverse. If you have to point out that you are a lady, you aren't. If you have to say you aren't 'racist', odds on you are.

Yes. I am a racist. I think Homo Sapiens are superior to all other primates.
But some of my best friends are Chimps.....

We are socialized as racist. As long as human physical traits are used to hand out privilege, thisbwill not change. Up front we can work to overcome our feelings and get beyond them, but our subconscious remains contaminated by our past upbringing. It's better to be aware of it then to deny it or practice it overtly or covertly.

Firstly we need an accurate definition of race.

My two pennorth (two cents): Race is the first step in evolution. In the North sea there are 7 races of cod. They live in different places, migrate to different places and breed at different times. They all taste the same.

I think that there are different races of human beings to be an enormous advantage. No race is inferior to any other - just different. It gives us an advantage in surviving.

'Fraid I'm not a mongrel, not since 1735 which is as far back as my family tree goes back.

If I were younger I would be working on that.

I am racist against orange people. Soo..Trump and oompa loompas (the singing is creepy)

We are all racists. Anyone who says they aren't is a liar. We need groups where we feel welcome and to have a sense of security. Those groups can be a race, a religion, type of lifestyle or anything we feel safe within. This bonding is a human need.

The problems happen if we become insular or teach hate or violence against another group.

I hold the modern view that race doesn't exist. It is a human construct based on incomplete data. The things we call "race" are so fuzzy around the edges as to make the definition useless.

I don't understand the reason for the religion selection. Religion isn't a race.

I believe every human is racist to a lesser or greater degree because its self-preservation basically. a race isn't a colour or even another country. it's everyone who isn't your family. it's genetically built into us and many animals.watch a good documentary on chimps in the wild and you will see what I mean. personally am about as unracist as a person can be.

Hell no! I'm not a racist. I hate NASCAR and think the Indy 500 is boring.

There is no such thing as 'race'. It is a social creation. We all share the same genes (mostly) and are able to cross breed. All differences are cosmetic and cultural. The thing that divides us is tribal. I totally believe, all of us are capable of racist behavior. Some is conscious and some is unconscious. Denying that we may have some unconscious racist ideas is counterproductive to our individual healing.

My late partner was from Iran. This tribe is considered Aryan. They get insulted if one mixes them with the Arabs who they look down on. She had some of this tendency because it was fostered throughout childhood. She admitted it as well. Admitting this is the only way to deal with the negative consequences.

If there is a race, it's the human race, period. I do not classify peoples by that term. Whenever it seems necessary for me, in speaking with another, to use a designation for a person from a different background, I will use the term "ethnicity" as I believe that to be more descriptive and more specific, but also inoffensive, in my opinion.

I had the good fortune to have been brought up in an environment, and to be schooled with people of numerous national backgrounds, all different "colors," if you will, and never experienced any negativity because of that issue. In school, I had crushes on Black, Asian, Hispanic, and even ( a ) Hawaiian girls. I've had a Chinese wife, and a Filipina wife, and still have feelings for and respect both. My daughter, the light of my life, is half Chinese. I went to Compton College post-riots (Watts riots 1965) and never had any problems there.

My working career was in aerospace in Southern California, and if you know anything about either, you know that being racially biased in such an environment will eventually get you into trouble. Besides that, my degree was in Sociology, and I worked in Employee/Labor Relations for 13 of my 30 years in aerospace, and in HR for over 20 years; so, being a racist would not have been viable under those circumstances.

I voted ''No''. The reason being, I don't care where the fuck anyone comes from. If I like someone or I didn't like someone, it wouldn't be because of where they come from.

Definitely not a racist. I stay as far away from all NASCAR-related events as possible. (In my youth, I liked Indy cars, but I've grown as a person since then.)

I'm not even a specieist. I treat everyone on a case by case basis. We're all animals.

I voted yes I am a racist and consider all races equal. Am I a hater?
No.I do actually see (and often admire color and gender). Do I hate or active try to have bias? No. I was raised in a sexist, racist country and often have to correct stupid brainwashing that I don't even know I have concerning sex and color. It actually pisses me off. To be honest I am very aware they at least could there be bigotry and do my best to get rid of it as much as possible. It is he same for anyone that is not hetrosexual. I was brainwashed to think they were sinners. It is bullshit. I now accept people as humans. We are all black africans(that is fact). We all are sexual no matter how that manifest. We are all some sort of sex even if it is both. I like to consider myself to be the most sexist(feminist), Racist(equal rights person) and non-hetrosexual bias person possible. Just to keep me honest and overcome my brainwashing.
Now I do consider myself a feminist, an equal rights, and lgbt advocate. I just hate my upbringing that was horrible so I now go to any measures possible to break the chains of bigotry due to my upbringing.

So I do admit my past as much as I hate it. I remember it so I don't repeat the same mistakes.
I feel like an ass for admitting this, The bullshit has to stop. I guess this is the best way to pay penance for my upbringing. I am not that Man.

the human race, we are one kind

If you are white and american raised, you are racist. Not because of personal beliefs necessarily, but because we benefit greatly from a long history of institutionalised racism. Better schools, better jobs,easier access to housing, loans, credit in general... I could go on. So the question is moot. One really needs to ask what we, as white Americans can do to dismantle those racist institutions.

Dave D.

Interesting that all the choices but one are Blatantly racist!??!

I grew up in a small town. We were poor but we were white. The "minorities" in the town were Hispanics and Blacks. In HS we had three black students and I don't know the count of the Hispanics. They referred to themselves as Chicano. I didn't really "think" about it, it was just the way it was. I assumed everyone lived much like my family did, being the default value. I did not see any overt racism. Also, I was not the socializing type. I got along with everyone. Then I joined the Army and learned what racism was. And yes, I grew up fairly racist. I have evolved since then, but sometimes I hear some of my previous learning pop up in my head. I try to be an accepting person, I can't say I'm perfect.

I voted "no". Remaining anonymous is pointless. I have had some "spirited conversations" with hypocrites.

I picked no but I should have picked yes and consider humanity equal as long as we're keeping this acknowledgment of racial heritage as racism. I believe that all sapience is of an irreducible value. Truly, I believe there is only one human species. I would like to say, one race and all as I believe in the cohesiveness of the notion, that we are all one race... I like that view yet I cannot deny the differences. Look, you're not going to take an Ethiopian and tell him to retain heat and survive as an Eskimo and you're not going to take an Eskimo and tell him to run a few miles as well as an Ethiopian. Evolution seeks ecological fitness and our environment effects this. Actually, if I thought USA ghetto culture was the only expression possible for a black man I might very well be considered racist in a hard sense towards the black man, but obviously it's not their only expression and they just so happen to be black. I believe we may judge a culture by its beliefs and values, and our thug culture here is delinquent. I hate to say this, but whats more, I am usually -or very rarely, attracted to other races sexually. It's just the way I am even as I recognize beauty in all races, I think this just has to do with my gene expression.

Recently I realized my white fragility. I would shut down on the subject of race ever arising as I found it frustrating as a divisive story perpetuated that causes needless suffering and strife. I would get angry with black people that constantly talk about their skin as if I care... but maybe that was the problem, I saw the senseless stories continuance as absurd and so I would respond abrasively in disapproval. Really though, what I was doing was delegitimizing other's experiences. Racism is a real and present problem, and humanity will likely never move on as they will just develop the story. At any rate, I believe in the individual. I will never release my notion that any man of any race may be of any character through their cultivation of focus and pursuits.

Biologically and evolutionarily, the concept of race does not exist in humans. Biologically, race implies a geographically isolated population that has evolved independent of its parent population and would under normal conditions not interbreed with the parent population. Not a new species, a subspecies perhaps.

Humans by their mobility has precluded the ability of any human population on this planet to be or remain geographically isolated. Interbreeding, either willingly or forced has occurred between all human populations. Every human carries a little DNA from every group somewhere in their code. There is no such thing as a pure group.

Skin color does not define race. It defines melatonin production as a result of geographic proximity to, or away from the equator or poles. It is a consequence of adaptation and sexual selection.

In humans, "race" remains a cultural construct, not a biological determinant.

For me personally, I am predominantly of northern and western European heritage. But for over 20 years of my teaching career I have lived on various Native reservations or taught in all Native schools. In all these instances I was by and large the minority. I have felt reverse discrimination, but never was deterred by it realizing that as they got to know me better it would disappear. And thats what happened

Now everybody has some area where discrimenation creeps in. Humans are about hierarchy, even if they consciously fight against it. To claim no racism whoatsoever is to dimenish the significance of what racism is according to scholars who study racism. Its to deny the insidiousness of racist behavior.