It boggles my mind that in 2008 racism is an issue. I've heard it said that it will always exist in some shape or form. I like most people, hoped it would become obsolete. Maybe I was just being naive, but I truly believed. It seems to be getting worse even. I don't know if maybe until this point it has been well hidden. Or maybe I was fortunate enough to be raise in a accepting environment. It could be that I was ignorant enough to ignore the issue. Some might say I was raised to be tolerant. Tolerance is not the correct word. Tolerance doesn't mean acceptance. Tolerance means you just put up with something. Not that you accept, or embrace the issue. It means you're willing to look the other way, for whatever reason. Someone said to me recently that everyone is racist in some way. I completely disagree. Everyone is has prejudice, but prejudice and racism are two completely different things. Racism is the spreading of hate.
Quite often I hear people blaming racism on the environment the person is raised in. In this day and age, for every parent telling their child that racism is right, there are 10 other things telling them it's wrong. Don't get me wrong, parental influence may play a role in the origin of the matter, but eventually you are forced to make you own decisions and choices. Children rebel from their parents teachings quite often. So why is this any different?

If you allow yourself to tolerate an issue, how long until your tolerance turns into acceptance?