Ah Look at you people!

No, they're racist. Down in the south, in places like Mississippi, people still use the term "******", and not as a joke or to be ironic. Mixed-race relationships aren't exactly frowned on, but it's still treated as odd in a lot of places. Last saturday, at a Super Mex, I heard a customer complaining about "so many ****ing Asians", and that was in California.

I'm not saying America is all pro-segregation or anything, but racism isn't gone. People just like to pretend it isn't there.

Sometimes, it's a big thing, the stuff that makes the news, like the murder of a unknown Hunts Point girl, or something like this.

Sometimes, it's the casual racism and other forms of bigotry in small, daily life. I mean, when was the last time a popular movie had a non-white, male lead? Remember the birth issue about Obama? Or what about video games? When, in a mainstream game, have you seen a non-stereotypical portrayal of another race? Or what about Jeremy Lin? Or the way some people are trying to hype up the threat of China stealing our jobs? Yes, there are exceptions, but these are exceptions, not the norm. I say these kinder, gentler forms of racism can be even worse, because to many, this isn't even a problem.

I mean, most of America just sees Asian-Americans as cute little socially awkward entertainers or one possible exotic choice in sex partners. (The wise, inscrutable stereotype usually only goes to foreign-born Asians. It's hard to sound wise with a California accent.)

America isn't a melting pot, it's a vinaigrette. Sure, you have all these separate ingredients, but for the most part, when everything settles, people are still separate. Our society did make some very big advances in civil rights in the past fifty years, but if you think that America is bigotry and discrimination free, you are a naive idiot.