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@TroyWell, you want to characterize racism as an aberration, or something that is voluntary. To me, it is a by-product of tribalism that is inherently entwined with xenophobia, and is a primitive reaction wired into the brain. Once this instinct is stimulated by an environment where the species are diversified, then "like" gravitates toward "like" and it become "us" against "them". The reason why racism is associated with white-skinned people is because they were powerful and cruel enough to be able to enforce their bias. This is also what spawned and maintains white supremacy. In today's climate, an accusation of racism is an effective tool - a card that is played to stifle or stigmatize one's white adversaries. Likewise, the word "nigger" is the most deadly weapon of racists, and i think even you, with all of your tolerance, wince and are injured by this simple 2-syllable utterance, no matter what the circumstances. I, myself, am prejudiced and suspicious of other ethnics. I wasn't taught this. It just came natural to me. In my mind, I discriminate against the "other" but i rarely act on this because I'm a coward, not looking for trouble unless it's "on line" where i don't have to worry about physical retaliation. 😏

Racism isn't always acted upon and it isn't always violent or toxic. Well-meaning whites can inadvertently be racist because of simply being insensitive and ignorant of slights that can be deemed to be offensive by blacks. Today, Obama considers Joe Biden one of his best friends, but back in 2008 Biden torpedoed his own aspirations for president when he made the casual observation about Obama seeming to be a nice clean upstanding guy. Black people immediately pounced on this saying it was a racist remark, and that actually ended Biden's ambitions back then. Calling the police on a black person who is committing no offense is a malicious act of racism that is triggered by skin color. It is also an affront to the dignity of a black person. A meme exposing this dynamic is not an overreaction. To me, it is a confirmation of how insidious racism can be.