Racist vs Prejudiced

The post-racial harmony America was expected to bask in after President Obama was elected has fallen under a cloudy cover.  The latest story that caught my eye was concerning the Boston police officer who referred to Henry Louis Gates and/or Gates' actions as a 'banana-eating jungle monkey' in a mass email. . .  three different times.  In any case, the result was administrative leave for his words, something mass emails can do; especially if you're silly enough to send them to members of the National Guard and the BOSTON GLOBE!

As expected, he later stated that he was not racist and he has friends with race qualities yada yada yada.  The thing is, he was right.  He's not racist, he's prejudiced.  In fact, most of us are prejudiced to some degree.  But that's not my point here.

My point is we throw the word racist around quite often when in fact we mean prejudiced.  In order to be racist, you must have power over someone or some aspect of their being.  A boss can be racist. A boss can fire you because he does not like that you're Scandinavian.  A politician can be racist.  Enforcing policies that keep, say, the Native American trapped on a reservation.  And yes, a police officer can be racist as well.  However, in terms of what this guy did his actions were prejudiced.  He used a racial slur to insult and influence but ultimately his email held no power over anyone else's actions.

With that said, I am not surprised it was a Boston police officer.  I am surprised that they gave this guy a gun but not for the reasons you might suspect.  My surprise arises from the fact that his decision making in sending a strongly worded email to THE BOSTON GLOBE under his real name identifying his real job and not seeing the consequences makes me wonder who exactly he would be helping with a firearm in public. Officer, at least go to the library and create a fake email account...did you think the Globe would keep it all hush hush for you?

Back to my point, we throw the word racist around because it is seen as much more damaging to reputation and character.  Prejudice implies a pre-judging with a possibilty of changing.  In effect, it's admitting having opinions about a something or a group of people without having any hard facts to back them up.

Racist, on the other hand, is a principle.  It's a belief in some form of superiority based on something no human even gets to choose for themselves, race and/or skin color.  It implies a lifestyle almost.  There is little to no hope of change for a racist save for a life-changing event, and even then it's not guaranteed.

So the public, the media, and the leaders throw around the word 'racist' any time they can. It stirs the pot, moves the food around the plate, but it's not really accurate (much like my 'moves around the plate' analogy).