When I was in high school, if a guy called me "raghead", I'd call him "white trash" back. I didn't see it as me being racist, just as retaliation. But then ag

When I was in high school, if a guy called me "raghead", I'd call him "white trash" back. I didn't see it as me being racist, just as retaliation. But then again, I didn't see the other guy as racist, just as an asshole. I was eccentric and the mean kids wanted to pick on me. I assumed that their basic motivation was malice, so had I been white (so they couldn't use mild racial slurs against me) they'd just have found something else nasty to say. I put that into a separate category than racist, which to me meant something like the members of the KKK or the Nazi party. Is this a false distinction? I get the same vibe about the mentioned workplace, like it's a bunch of jock assholes (and definitely meets the definitions of "hostility" and "harassment", for what it's worth).