Last class we struggled to interrogate the concept of racism and what it means to truly be racist. Not only because it is a complicated issue with many different ways of looking at it, but also because it is such a charged word  that is difficult to talk about for fear of saying "the wrong thing."  Is it  systemic or is it inter-personal? Is it ignorance or is it deliberate? Are all white people racist? Can nonwhites be racist? I thought it was important that Taylor pointed out that we don't have to reduce the idea of racism--or race-thinking for that matter--to a single narrative or model. Instead, if we look at the idea of disregard, we can begin to understand the pluralist ways in which racism is manifested and the ways in which we can work to end it. What's more, Taylor also touched on the idea of indirect racists, which describes people who benefit from the system by merit of their identity (namely, white), as well as the fact that seemingly racist behavior of nonwhite people is insignificant compared to the structural violence of white supremacy. A lot of the  discussions in this chapter reminded me of some of what I've learned from reading feminist theory and queer theory. Mainly, that  the white, heterosexual male identity is seen as the default and standard of being a human (much like monogenism discussed in the chapter, where other races are seen as degenerate versions of the "original" white race), while other identities are classified as "other." Rather than considered a representative of humanity, their ways of life are seen as abject in comparison to the supposed norm. Since our society is constantly engaged with the ideology of white dominance, it becomes "normal" and masquerades itself as "the way things are." In fact, being white often isn't seen as having a race. It's only when non-dominant voices and opinions are heard that we can question the dominant ones, which seems to be what Joel Osmundson is trying to get at in the article "Love Letter to White People": "Let us learn to trust truths that we cannot live in. Let us question our own implication in these narratives." As scary as it is, I think it's extremely important to questions the status quo and our own individual participation within unequal institutions, particularly if we benefit from the current social hierarchy (like myself  as I am white and middle class). I definitely think awareness and education are crucial, but what I'm currently grappling with is how do we change the system? And even if we can enact anti-racist policies, how do we change ideologies?