You could yell the word “racist” at me and I will not be bothered. Because I am confident that I have done, and will continue to do, everything in my power to assure that it does not apply to me, and that’s a great deal more than simply saying “no, I’m not”. In order to assure that the word doesn’t apply to me, I constantly ask myself, with a very sincere desire to know the true answer, “am I?”

It’s an uncomfortable question, and the answer sometimes comes back, “Yes.” Then I know I have work to do. If I never ask, if I never really want the answer, then the accusation would have weight. Then it would bother me.

Because I wouldn’t be sure.

I see people angered when they hear the word directed at them. It’s clear that they know that racism is undesirable. But their thought process seems to be:

“Racism is bad. I know this.

I am not bad.

Therefore I am not racist.”

That doesn’t work, because there is no question. There is a palliative conclusion founded on seriously flawed logic. No changes take place in that process, because there is no desire for change. There’s only a desire to dismiss the idea.