Scott Morizot

And those beliefs and assumptions are so deeply ingrained you believe your thoughts are "natural" or "obvious" when they are anything but.

That reality does not automatically turn people into swastika or hood wearing active racists, but make no mistake. It's a very small step.

Nazi Germany was mostly filled with normal "good" people who allowed racism and hate to become the norm.

Lynch mobs in the South were occasions for Sunday picnics with the children. The KKK in the past were "fine, upstanding citizens".

In my lifetime, we had managed to at least make active racism socially unacceptable in mixed company, at least.

Though I still heard plenty of it in what people assumed was a safe setting with only fellow whites around.

That small, but critical step is seriously at risk. We already see active displays of hate being normalized again around us.

That precipice of hate has always been just the smallest of steps away. Evil is not done by monsters. It's done by "normal" people.

Even the true "monsters" are mostly only seen as such in retrospect. Dwell on that for a while.

I'm not somehow magically free of all those biases and assumptions, though I seem to have absorbed fewer than many. I guard against the rest

So when you see someone and make assumptions based on their race and appearance, that does mean you are racist.

When you are angered because you feel someone has gotten an advantage in a system that's supposed to favor you, you are racist.

When you set aside or discount racist opinions or views expressed by another, you are also racist.

And when you support and vote for candidates who have openly expressed racist opinions and espoused racist policies, you are racist.

If, in your own self-image, you would like to be something better than a racist, the first step is to acknowledge where you are.

As long as you continue to lie yourself, you will never change.

Do you feel hurt and aggrieved that people call you a racist because you voted for one? Remember that actions speak louder than words.

If you've acted in a racist manner, accept that reality. If you actually want to be a better human being, you can start any time.

If you're okay with being "a little racist" then don't be offended when people accurately describe you.

Even the worst human "monsters" tend to express care and affection toward those whom they embrace as fellow human beings.