"There's only one race, the HUMAN race"
"I'm not racist, I just don't like your culture"
Long before the latest race relations issue I've held this idea that not all racists are actually racist. I think a great majority of them simply don't like other cultures. And I'm not just referring to far off lands but different cultures within a local community.
For example, that old man who served in Vietnam and yells at the kids to stay off his lawn is a different culture than the young men who wear the pants down low and drive around in supped up compact cars. That soccer mom with her minivan and khakis is a different culture than the goth girls with the bark makeup and sullen faces (or is that emo?)
The point is, I don't like working on cars in my front lawn wearing tank tops and drinking beer from a cooler – that doesn't mean I hate white people, it just means I want to live my life a different way. And sometimes our different cultures clash because I like quiet and you like parties or I like landscaping and you like machinery. I like libraries and you like clubs. I like STYX and you Like Justin Beiber.
We can dislike someone's culture without being racist, because there is a difference. And if you can't see that, maybe you're the racist. Don't confuse your culture with you're culture.
