I Am Not a Racist, I Did Not Mean to Harm That Man

The incident called to mind a painful history of false criminal accusations made against black men by white women which often ended with devastating consequences. I am not a racist, I did not mean to harm that man in any way, the woman declared in her public apology. Her simple denial overlooks the complex reality that racism is a function of our actions, not merely our intentions. As historian Abraham X. Kandy writes, racist and anti-racist are not fixed identities. We can be a racist one minute and an anti-racist the next.