Dichotomy of Racism

I heard a rather interesting statement while watching Larry King the other night. There was this guy named David Webb he is an African American and is the Co-Founder of TeaParty365 (whatever that's about.) Mr. Webb said "Racism is not a function of power." I have to say that I agree with this confused gentleman. Racism is not a function of power, anyone can be a racist. Racist being: a person that believes that race is the primary determinate of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Any person of any race can adhere to this ideology.

Now let me introduce and new term to you that will illustrate the dichotomy of racism. "Relevant Racism". For all intents and purposes lets say Billy Bob out in the middle of west Texas, in a town of 25 people (all whites), hates African Americans. How much power or influence does Billy Bob have. I would like to go out on a limb and say x<0. Billy Bob opinions and subsequent actions in his town of 25 has very little effect on the world. This form of racism can be see as irrelevant, due to Billy Bob's sphere of influence.

Now on the other hand lets say Mr. Stan Carnegie, a CEO of a fortune 100 company in Houston, is a racist. Mr. Carnegie has a lot more influence than Mr. Billy Bob, and has the authority and power to exercise his discriminatory judgement and directly effect many people's lives perpetually. For example; If Mr.Carnegie is your boss and you hate him, what kind of power can you exercise against him to effect his life? Next to none. However on the other hand if Mr. Carnegie hates you, he can directly impact your life via a lack of raises, promotions,or assignments given. He can fire you, you cant fire him. This type of racism is "Relevant Racism".

I've heard many people say that Black people cannot be racists. This is a point that many people have been trying get across, though it has been poorly communicated it, isn't entirely false. Lately the NAACP has come under fire about it's new resolution opposing the Tea Party and deeming them a "racist organization". As a result many pundits on the conservative right have been calling the NAACP the most racist organization in the country (I guess they forgot about the KKK). Again as individuals, like previously stated, anyone can be a racist. However when you look at the numbers. Blacks make up only about 15% of the US population. Sure we have a black president, attorney general, and many successful black entrepreneurs, but if you go by the numbers our racism, if any, is still "Irrelevant Racism" in the big picture. (This is also true for any other race that's a minority)

I would like to leave you with this challenge: do not allow people to convince you that, Pookie from the Southpark hating white people and Mr. Carnegie hating black people, belong in the same category. Yes they're both racists but one has a greater sphere of influence than the other thus more power thus more "RELEVANT". Racism is an umbrella with many different subordinate subcategories; Find the "Dichotomy of Racism".