You ask, “Are you attempting to hurt someone else (…) on the basis of race?” but here’s the thing: you can hurt someone unintentionally. Using slurs, sharing jokes based on racial stereotypes, appropriating someone’s cultural heritage, and other “microaggressions” can hurt people of color. Most offenses are innocent, albeit uneducated, in nature and can be excused. However, if a person of color is offended and hurt by something you say/do/wear etc., you apologize, and you don’t get to decide that what you did wasn’t racist. Does this mean you are a racist? No, but does this mean that whatever you did was inappropriate? Probably.
just things to think about
actually people who ride their bikes on the sidewalks when there are pedestrians around are the absolute worst
Our headquarters are actually in Carmel, Indiana, not Indianapolis!
You ask, “Are you attempting to hurt someone else (…) on the basis of race?” but here’s the thing: you can hurt someone unintentionally. Using slurs, sharing jokes based on racial stereotypes, appropriating someone’s cultural heritage, and other “microaggressions” can hurt people of color. Most offenses are innocent, albeit uneducated, in nature and can be excused. However, if a person of color is offended and hurt by something you say/do/wear etc., you apologize, and you don’t get to decide that what you did wasn’t racist. Does this mean you are a racist? No, but does this mean that whatever you did was inappropriate? Probably.
just things to think about