I'm afraid that the measuring stick is working just fine. You certainly don't need to be hurt to understand racism, but if you have been hurt you will understa

I'm afraid that the measuring stick is working just fine. You certainly don't need to be hurt to understand racism, but if you have been hurt you will understand it. And if you haven't, you won't understand it until you acknowledge that your initial perceptions of racism are not founded in experience. Tim Wise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wise) is one such person, who is not discriminated or attacked because of his race -- nor does he belong to a race that is frequently attacked or stereotyped negatively, at least not in the US -- and nonetheless has an excellent understanding. What you've put on display here is well-intentioned talk about transcending labels, or equating "wears top-hats" with "dishonest cheater" as if the difference between the two -- which any simpleton can grasp -- doesn't exist. Your demonstrated understanding of racism has nothing to do with the experiences of real people, which seem to mean less to you than intellectual abstractions.