Is the Race Card an Ace, a Deuce or the Joker?

Amy Alkon blogs about a controversy over Claudia Schiffer (IMDB entry) posing as a 60's era black woman with an exaggerated afro:


While the picture may be in poor taste and certainly doesn't do much for a woman as good looking as Claudia Schiffer, is it racist?

Grow up. Calling the image above "racist" only cheapens the word and detracts from genuine problems that may or may not be racial in origin but do affect members of different races unequally.

The modern use of "racist" as an epithet is largely a relic of the civil rights movement. Activists got a lot of mileage out of the stereotype of violent Southern troglodytes. As a convenient label the word also served to massage the egos of white liberals who were horrified by the fire hoses and police dogs but could take satisfaction in knowing that neither they nor anyone they knew would ever do such a thing.

In fact, most racism -- like most evil -- is banal. There’s nothing sensational about redlining. No archival newsreel can illustrate the pernicious effects of affirmative action nor what it means to be seen as a person who, without the assistance of well-meaning whites, cannot compete.