Racism's many colors

Now it's time to drop the bomb -- the racism bomb. \nBut I'm not concerned strictly with black-white issues. The structure of racism -- both real and imagined -- is far more complex than that, especially in this country.\nWhat spurred my thoughts on this was an almost innocent aside made by a guest watching TV at my house. One of MTV's painfully shallow reality shows was on the air (not my choice, I promise!), and it featured an especially shallow aspiring body-builder. When Mr. Muscles made a comment about his own big nose, my guest said, "Well of course, he's a dago."\nEven though I myself am a dago, a wop, a guinea or whatever other term you use off-the-record for Italian-Americans, I really didn't care. Why? Because this comment came from an MTV imbecile whom I myself would have insulted. Moreover, I knew it was only a harmless comment that carried no true hatred behind it.\nHowever, it would be false to say such a comment is meaningless. It illustrates the contempt the older, more established white Americans had for newly arrived immigrants, a hatred that fueled the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. Yet this is an aspect of the Klan's history that is largely ignored today. People seem to forget that an Imperial Wizard from Indiana in the 1920s would have just as gladly strung me up, an Italian and a Catholic, as readily as any black or Jewish person.\nIt might sound like I'm bitter, wanting a piece of the sympathy pie that victims of prejudice are given by today's society, but I'm really not. What does irk me is the mind-set that because I am white, I am a member of a privileged caste that is inherently prejudiced and never the object of prejudice.\nJoe Jackson, father of Michael Jackson, has such an attitude. When referring to his son's upcoming trial, he immediately blamed the accusations on American racism.\nDoes Jackson père seriously think his son's trial has less to do with him being black than being creepy? Is there even enough of his original flesh left to qualify him as human? \nDoes this mean I can now blame the Gotti trial on American racism?\nCertainly not. The point of the justice system is to test guilt, not persecute race, and I doubt the concerted efforts of police, prosecutors and government officials are all directed toward quashing an uppity black man.\nAnother mistaken stance on this issue is the delusion that it can be ended. Franco Frattini, a former justice official from the European Union, an organization known for having its head among the clouds, spoke of the "eradication of ... intolerance."\nEnding thousands of years of cultural strife is rather ambitious, no?\nRacism is something that cannot be eradicated, and all people are guilty of it to some degree. As long as there are distinct cultural and ethnic groups, each of them shall have its established identity, and that identity will always be determined by who isn't included as much as who is. Those outside are always viewed differently from those inside. This is the origin of racism, and every culture has this outlook, or it ceases to be a culture and homogenizes. This is not bad, only natural and expected.\nI'll admit, I've said and thought my fair share of derogatory remarks, and I know I'm not the only one. So, call me a dago -- I don't care. Such words are harmless, even natural, for they are the products of living among different people. Only when such thoughts lead to twisted ideologies, violence and murder do they become dangerous and destructive to society.