I think the argument here is an example of several problematic issues in our attempts to discuss race. How does a person hold a racist view or participate in a racist system? I would say that there are many people of color who participate in that system. Often, white people seem offended by the notion that they could even participate in a system of oppression, but the truth is we do. Part of that, to your point on class, is that we believe that it is wrong to be racist not, but not wrong to be classist. So we can couch races views within class because there is a fundamental belief in this country in the power of god, or the universe, or whatever to bring hard work and positivity to the top. The opposite of that is those on the bottom have done something to be there. And even the most ardent crusaders for justice seem to by into this ultimate belief which allows us as a country to perpetuate great evils. The war on the poor is true, but it also allows for the same racist views to be handled without social fallout. You can, hold all of the views about blacks that the average Klan member in 1870 held, but not be racist simply because you hold those views in conjunction with perceptions about poverty and the role of work. You can hold out places for exceptional black people, while still holding a racist view of most black people. This is why the white woman in evanston felt embarassed (not wrong) about confusing an exceptional black for a normal black person. The iss