What exactly is racism nowadays?

[TaraJo]

Have you read any of the signs you see at tea party rallies? They're attacking Obama, which should be expected from Republican groups, but they seem to delight in calling him a coon. Or a ni**er. Or a monkey. Or comments about him eating watermelon or fried chicken. Or any one of a dozen other racial stereotypes aimed directly at black people. Now, take this group of people and think about the elected officials they would put in office. Do you see racial sensitivity being a big concern of theirs?

Then there's what I call 'subtle' racism. They aren't being racist when they make English the official language, even though they know it's a law that isn't going to effect white people. They aren't being racist when they attempted to pass the Arizona immigration law, even though nobody is going to cause issue with it to white people.

Lastly, attacks on poverty that involve removal of social programs disproportionatly hit racial minorities. If you're black or hispanic, you're much more likely to be poor than if you're white.

That's the tops of what I can think of. Like I said earlier, it's often vey subtle and they know better than to let the big names in the party say anything directly racist.