I think racism goes further than the individual, though.
To repost a reply I made to a comment in someone else's locked post:
Like I said above, racism is racism. It can happen to anyone.
At one level, yes, racism is racism.
At another level, all types of racism are not equal.
On a personal front, everyone experiences prejudices based on their race - that's racism. White people are insulted by non-whites, blacks get called the N-word, people dismiss non-Western backgrounds, or presume that anyone not of the same cultural background is evil, bad, or at the least, not someone to be trusted.
On a cultural front, however, non-whites experience racism at a level that white people do not and never will. White people are the dominant paradigm. As a group, they will always have positive role models and not just negatives; they can turn on the TV and find heroes of their skin colour and not just villains; they can be assured that cosmetic companies will make cosmetics in their skin colour; they will never ask if they were rejected for a job, overlooked for a role, turned down at a restaurant, or pulled over at a traffic light because of the colour of their skin.
And if they did experience an individual case of racism against them then it would be the exception rather than the rule.
There are two kinds of racism that come up in these discussions: the individual act of racism from one person or group of persons to another, and the collective benefits that the dominant paradigm gain from maintaining their status quo as the dominant group.
As a society, we've mostly overcome the first. However, as individuals and as a society, there's a long way to go before we eliminate the second - mostly because a lot of people who would not be individually racist are unwilling to admit that they are benefiting from a society that radiates racial superiority and racial inferiority everywhere we look - and that refusing to admit that benefit is contributing to the racism that non-whites experience.
Many people - both the nice and the nasty - don't stop and question their beliefs, question their attitudes. A lot of people don't question that the representatives of the alien races are all coloured, or that the reps of the technologically advanced human races are all white. People assume that the "best roles go to the best actors" but never look at the racist foundations of such a statement when 99% of the "best roles" end up played by white people - that coloured actors just aren't as good as whites.
So, yes, I see where you're coming from in that, as an individual, you disregard colour and race in your interactions; but there's more to it than just the individual - there's the social structure in which we exist and interact and hold our beliefs about race.
not all racism is equal
To repost a reply I made to a comment in someone else's locked post:Many people - both the nice and the nasty - don't stop and question their beliefs, question their attitudes. A lot of people don't question that the representatives of the alien races are all coloured, or that the reps of the technologically advanced human races are all white. People assume that the "best roles go to the best actors" but never look at the racist foundations of such a statement when 99% of the "best roles" end up played by white people - that coloured actors just aren't as good as whites.
So, yes, I see where you're coming from in that, as an individual, you disregard colour and race in your interactions; but there's more to it than just the individual - there's the social structure in which we exist and interact and hold our beliefs about race.