Steve, that is such a fascinating story to me. I appreciate you for sharing it.

Reading through the comments, I can understand the confusion regarding the term “racist.” Below is Merriem-Webster’s definiton of racism:

1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

2a : a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles

b : a political or social system founded on racism

3 : racial prejudice or discrimination

Under the first and third definition, anyone can be racist toward anyone — even Black people toward White people.

In this article, I was using the second definition that has to do with political programs and systematized racism. Since Black people are a minority group and don’t have political power over White people, they can’t be racist in that way in the U.S. Therefore, they don’t have the power to inflict as much harm through their prejudice as White people do.

However, as you say, prejudice is still prejudice and mistreatment of someone based solely on their race should never be condoned. Power is a fluid concept, and we can all be self-aware about how we use what power we do have to inflict harm on others.

I hope that clarifies my stance. Thank you for adding nuance to this conversation.