> Is it racism only when you consider the group as a whole? Can't one be racist when talking about individuals? The claim was that racism explains why birthers

> Is it racism only when you consider the group as a whole? Can't one be racist when talking about individuals? The claim was that racism explains why birthers think that Obama was born in Indonesia. Racism supposedly means "ascribing attributes to individual/group based on their skin color/ethnicity". How are you defining racism such that Birthers believe that Obama was born in Indonesia because of racism/their beliefs about Black people but don't believe that other Black people were born in Indonesia? In terms of actual usage, "racism" is basically code for "I'm a good person, we disagree, therefore you're a bad person".