The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate

[Shandris]

52. Okay, I don't think I'm being quite clear enough here because...

...when you add '(as a whole)', I'm -completely- in agreement with you. I'm not meaning to sound like I'm saying that anytime someone feels under attack is a bad thing, not at all. What I mean is that when large swaths of people -- the people who arguably, outside of mere color alone, are among the most oppressed people in the nation ("among" being the key word there, meaning 'not alone as' or 'not the only') -- are feeling the same thing, then there is a -need- to examine what is being said, what people are hearing, and to re-evaluate the theory/belief/idea/etc. I think you're probably getting a bit of flow-over from other times I've received the 'individuals dont matter' talk on this conversation; I assure you, I do not mean to imply that you directly are saying all of these things and I apologize if that is how it seems. That is where the other part you quoted comes from -- that is almost -exactly- what a huge number of people are saying.

The key (imo) to looking at racism, beliefs of racial supremacy, class, power, and societal progression come at the intersections of all these things, not race and sex alone -- not something you directly have said, but a very common thread in these kinds of conversations. When you (generic) leave out all the other intersections and look only at race/sex, then it is going to make huge numbers of people feel directly assaulted while they are eking by an existence that most here on DU have never, and -will- never, understand let alone deal with. And when our conversations ignore them, or we dismiss them as simply hateful bigoted idiots, then we have -literally- handed votes to the other side. IOW...we -strengthen- racism by -not- examining all of the structures at once. Again...in my point of view.