If we all agree that Joe Biden isn't racist then why does it matter?

[StarfishSaver]

48. This is the kind of binary argument that makes discussions about race very difficult

The question is not whether he is a racist. I don't think anyone in the right mind thinks he is a racist or anything close to it.

The question is how he is handled matters of race. That's a different issue.

Race doesn't live in a set spot with oy two options where we're either David Duke or Martin Luther King. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, doing the best we can to be on the MLK end of the spectrum. We slide back and forth in our range, sometimes doing better, sometime slipping. We all have biases and prejudices. There's nothing wrong or evil about that. That's just human nature. The question is how do we recognize, acknowledge and address them.

The problem is that whenever we do try to have conversations about how we can do better, those conversations are often shut down by defensive cries of "you're calling me/him/her/us a racist!"

Yes, sometimes these conversations are uncomfortable - it's never easy to reflect and confront our own biases. But until we are able to have uncomfortable conversations on race, we're never going to make the progress we all want to make.

Looking at and even criticizing a politician's record on race relations and civil rights is not an attack and saying that he or she could have done better and urging them to reflect on and reconsider positions they've taken in the past is not an accusation of racism. And anyone truly interested in racial reconciliation and understanding should work on being less defensive and more open to this kind of self-reflection, analysis and honest discussion.