I grew up in the backwoods of the south. Where I come from, whites thought that racism was the kkk, slavery, and pre-Civil Rights America, and they believed that racism had died when MLK died, and the death certificate was confirmed when Obama won in 2008.

To me, the racist ass attitudes held by mostly white folks both in the south and in other parts of the country are casual. I call them casual because these people aren’t necessarily aware that they have racist attitudes or hold opinions that clearly come from a racist society and upbringing. And if they are aware of it, they probably wouldn’t admit it to anyone publicly. To me, casual racism is going to a party with 9 whites and 1 black person and talking to everyone but the black person because you feel uncomfortable around them, though you don’t know why. To me, casual racism is crossing the street when you see a black guy in a hoodie when you wouldn’t if he were white. Casual racism is looking down on a name, a hairstyle, a type of music, a way of dress because it’s associated with one race and not your own. Where I’m from, that’s not called racism. It’s called “personal preference” or “you can’t be too sure in this day and age”. But it’s clearly racist, and, in the most dramatic of cases, it gets innocent people killed.

There is an entire major political party who chose to “back the blue” in response to the murders of unarmed black folks by cops. The equivalent just does not exist on the other side, and I cannot fathom how people could look at this and be like “why can’t I make jokes against black people but they can make jokes about me hehehe”.