Random thought as I'm writing my midterm for my american race relations class: I wonder if some people are racist these days not out of hate for another race or out of a belief in eugenics or nicer looking skin colors...but rather out of laziness. Hate, fear, dislike, eugenicist thought, politics, prejudice, ignorance etc. have all been contributors to our history of racism and discrimination in the US, a history that had been legal, institutionalized, and socially accepted for over a century prior to the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement. To combat and correct this history takes time, effort, energy, and COMMITMENT. The advantages of white privilege are embedded in white American culture so deeply that it is the unspoken norm; the unmarked marker of status (as I believe Althusser argues). My thought is that I think laziness is the reason people choose to not fight against the racism that exists in our culture or the reason people want to just argue that "we are post race" and that institutional racism and disadvantages based on race do not exist. It is so much easier to accept the privileges that come along with whiteness; it is much MUCH harder to live aware of your privilege and the luxuries it affords you. It's easier to throw up our hands and accept that inequality is a huge issue which we can't change, and then walk out the door and continue to live a life to serve only ourselves as a result. Whether racism takes the form of hate or of ignorance, it is just as socially destructive...and sinful.