I think we have a language problem. Racial prejudice is entirely different from racism. Certainly there are racists in society, but I don't think they're as numerous as we are led to believe. Racism is the belief that group X is superior (however defined) to others, or the corollary: group Y is inferior. That white are superior to blacks (and men to women) was an argument that was made and defended by serious scientists up until the early 20th century. Volumes have been written and since debunked on the subject. I don' think that this has any traction in the modern main stream. For instance, try to use the N word at a party, even one with all WASPs. It won't play well at most.

Racial prejudice--the practice of assuming certain correlates based on one's race--on the other hand is alive and well. I will say to the grave that I am not a racist, because I believe that I am not a racist. But, if I see a group a black teenagers who look like thugs hanging on the corner in my neighborhood, I'm going to subtly cross the street before I walk by. I think a lot of people would. How do we not judge others? Its a basic survival mechanism as old as consciousness. It so happens that 1) race is an easy identifier and 2) young black men commit a hugely disproportionate amount of violent crime, have low literacy rates, speak in a manner that's difficult to decipher at times, and have high unemployment. Unfortunately, this is what one correlates with inner city youth.

And I don't think its even that much about race. No one judges a black guy poorly--even a young black guy--who is wearing a charcoal suit. But everyone judges a white guy who looks like a piece of white trash. Appearance is much deeper than skin color, it just so happens that skin color is a very obvious attribute of most people. Maybe I'm being unfair by saying that all blacks have to do to be accepted is to look white; I truly don't know. Its difficult to not view this issue through the lens of our current societal norms, most of which have been defined by whites. But I think to continually chalk all racial issues up to racism is dangerous and, above all, incorrect. We will never have any deeper understanding of one another when using this language, because most white hear racism and think "Well, I'm not a racist". I think racial prejudice is a more correct, more constructive way to frame these debates.