My views on this are a bit shaky.  I don't believe that racism is ever justified, but I believe that sometimes it can be understood.  I can't explain what I mean without telling my own personal story so here goes:

When I was 13 years old, my mother was living in a really crappy hotel. (My parents had split up for a while) Well the only way to do the laundry was to walk across the parking lot and do the laundry that way. So I put the clothes in the washer and was walking back.  Seven men were sitting in a room with an open door. I won't say their race because I don't wish to offend anyone. Anyway, one of them shouted "Hey little girl come over here."  It kinda freaked me out, but I didn't think much of it until I saw one of them start running at me. I took off running as fast as I could and got to my mom's hotel room before he could grab me.

I've been terrified of men of the same race ever since then.  Because I'm sure you can imagine what would have happened to me had that man gotten me to that hotel room with his six buddies. It's not something I do intentionally, but every time I get around a man of that race, I cringe up and become terrified. I can't say for sure if this could be classified as racism, or just a form of psychological strain.

Whatever the case may be, I just know that I have no problem with men of other races. It's only men of that race that scare me.  Do I like feeling that way? No.  Do I wish that I didn't feel that way? Yes. Do I feel horribly guilty every time a man of that race walks by and I shy away from him? Yes. It's not a feeling I enjoy and it makes me feel more guilty than anything else, but I simply can't help it.

Maybe you all will understand, maybe you won't. I don't know. But that's how I feel.

JazzCoon : a bit of revamped shakespear there i see

XxChaosxX : I'd call that more of a phobia, and yes, I can understand why you feel that fear. However, I do think it's a bit much... do you really react with fear to every male of that race that you see, no matter what other factors exist? A priest, a man in a suit, a teacher, a classmate, police officer, firefighter saving your life? Their race was the easiest thing to focus on, but perhaps that was the wrong thing.

For my own personal opinion... racism is stupid. Ethnocentrism (the idea that people from one country or culture are better than another) is also stupid. I grew up in a city that was about 98% hispanic, and I was white... there was a lot of racist attitudes towards me. Let's just say that other than what I learned from Speedy Gonzales, much of the early Spanish I learned was not repeatable in nice company. Do I hate hispanics? No. Are there some things that they do that annoy me? Yes, but not all of them do it, so I blame other factors, like different cultural upbringing.

My parents are closet racist in many ways. They won't use the N-word, but they told me point blank that I was not allowed to date a black man, ever. If I had found a black guy that I liked enough, I would have dated him on purpose just to piss them off... but all the guys I knew were either very non-compatible or gay. Also, they periodically call hispanics that do things they do not like "wetbacks". I have never liked it, but they do it anyway.

They don't hold a candle to what I have seen since I moved to rural western Pennsylvania though. There are some people here that act like it's the 1950s as far as non-whites are concerned. It is disgusting!

Elara : I'd never really thought about it until you asked, but no. I don't react with fear to every single male of that race that I see. When I visit restaurants that are run by that race of people, I don't fear the waiters.  Also, I've known a man of that race since I was a child and I don't become frightened when he is around. But that's probably because I know him well, and he is also my sister's uncle (not mine, but hers).  It's only if I pass by a man of that race on the street or in the store that I become afraid.  I don't really know any other way to describe it because I don't quite understand it myself.

I think it's ignorance in its pure form.

I have a lot of family members who are white supremest skinheads, and it sucks that I can't hang out with them, or even really socialize with them because we have conflicting opinions.

The sad part about is they think their perspective is biblical. They think any race other than white are inferior based upon certain scriptures that they misinterpret.

For instance, they think the Israelites of the Old Testament of the Bible are the chosen race of whites (clearly th Israelites were Jews; not Caucasian).

Yeah so long story short of all this, if someone's racist, they need to get a clue; what makes them special?