What is a racist?

Being South African, I should know what it is. Certainly during the apartheid days, it was simple to define.
Nowadays I cant's fathom it out.
Sure, I realise that degrading any person of colour is regarded as racist. If you are white, does the same rule exist. Reverse racism is also racist, I presume.
When I see what our Black South Africans went through, it is sickening, to say the least. What worries me is that I see the same thing all over the world. I would hate to be Arabic looking person going through any airport in the world.
Prejudice seems to be acceptable and those suspected are presumed guilty on their looks alone.
I may be wrong, but it seems racism is alive and well.

The word racist has being misused and redefined through the years.

Definition: [n] a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others
[adj] discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion
[adj] based on racial intolerance; "racist remarks"


Synonyms: antiblack, anti-Semite(a), anti-Semitic, discriminatory, prejudiced, racial, racialist

See Also: bigot

At one point or another we all has been racist on one way or another.

Just don't let it bother you when it comes from some body else and openly ofensive.

[edit on 31-7-2004 by marg6043]

A racist is someone who thinks other races are inferior to their own.

Illmatic67,

Racist does not stop on skin color alone it goes for religion also.

Not only skin color and religion either. It spreads far further then that.

Racisme spans to all the following things and more:

Color
Religion
Sheer geographical location
Financial status
Age
Intelligence
Physical fitness and defects
Musical preference
Cultural Differences(Why does everyone hate the French, the Welsh, ...)

Rasisme to me is one proclaiming hate for another for any kind of difference between the 2.

The thing with racisme isn't restricted to someone thinking they are superior to another. It goes both ways.

Not only do rich people sometimes think they are superior to poorer people, but also do poorer people hate richer people for making money.

Racisme invokes Racisme.

An example: a "insert color" person can hate a "insert other color" person because he thinks himself superior to a "insert other color" person. In return, the "insert other color" person hates the "insert color" person, because the "insert color" person thinks hes superior.

[edit on 31-7-2004 by thematrix]

Nice points, TheMatrix.

Tribes of the same colour, fighting each other, for no reason ecxepting that one may be Zulu and the other Xhosa, is to my feeble brain, racism.

Racism is: Losing a possible friendship because of a prejudgement more than likely instilled during childhood. How many friends have you lost for this reason?

thematrix,


That was a good point, and JacKatMtn, that is so true we even become mad against family members or life time friends for the silliest things and it can fall in the category of racism.

We as humans tried to call ourselves open-minded and tell that everybody is equal but how many times we had woke down the street and turn our heads the other way because we don�t like somebody or avoid sitting next to somebody because we don�t like that person or a comment that person has done in the past. It is very sad.

Or we avoid going to this church or that church because is not the right people to mix with. I even has found myself telling my children that they need to marry into the right family and I believe in equality for everybody.

[edit on 31-7-2004 by marg6043]

Well I classic example is someone saying "I'm not racist but..." I normally switch off right then