So Much Racism, So Few Racists

By Bill Maher

Barbara Walters recently interviewed V. Stiviano, the world’s worst personal assistant, and when she asked what her relationship with Donald Sterling is, Stiviano said, “I’m Mr. Sterling’s right hand arm… man. I’m Mr. Sterling’s everything – his confidante, his best friend, his silly rabbit.” She’s Bugs Bunny, all right. She bugs her boyfriends like she’s the NSA.  

But the weirdest thing in the interview is when she says he’s not a racist. How low is the bar for racism when Donald Sterling isn’t a racist? Somebody has to explain to me how we live in a world with so much racism and no racists. Cliven Bundy? “I’m not a racist.” A few years ago, there was a judge in Louisiana who refused to marry an interracial couple. Guess what? Not a racist.

How are we ever going to become less racist when we can’t even agree on what racism is? I think people like V. Stiviano just think it’s about being mean or something. Almost everybody thinks it’s just simple prejudice. It’s not. Racism is an “ism” because it has to do with systemic discrimination. It’s not personal prejudice; it’s a social plague.

This is what’s so wrong about the term “reverse racism” becoming part of the lexicon. There’s no widespread discrimination against white people. There isn’t a generation of young white men in prison. The average net worth of a white woman isn’t $5.

The General Social Survey has been asking white Americans their views on race periodically since 1972. The last one found that 28% of white Americans think it’s okay to discriminate against blacks when selling a home, 40% say whites are more hardworking than blacks, and 45% say blacks don’t have the motivation or willpower to pull themselves out of poverty.

Racism is the collective consequence of all that.