The word racism is rarely used in the correct context these days.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a nice day, wouldn't you agree? But it isn't a nice day for everyone, it never has been and never will be. This might be a bit of a grim way to start this debate, mind me, but I feel it to be required. Racism is at large, and his century old, outdone way of thinking is so surprisingly common that you'll wonder if we have advanced anywhere. The widespread usage of the word “racism” and “racist” have sky-rocketed, and it seems like we can get nowhere without hearing of the matter. This lead up to this interesting question that we are discussing here today: Is it too much? Where does racism end and where does plain ignorance begin? There are several distinctive types of racism, for simplification I'm going to sum them up to 3 groups albeit there are a lot more that can be looked at in another topic. Stereotypes:also knows as “Prejudice”. These are subtle racist remarks that don't sound so bad until you really notice what is being implied. It's those subtle cases of “You run like a black man” or “always trust a Jewish Banker.” In this form you might think that it's a compliment: but it doesn't address the fact that these sentences stem from a generalization, making an illogical judgement over all those that are in that racial group. This means a discriminating act based on race and is thus racism. It doesn't matter if the action being described is positive, negative or entertaining, it's still racism and has negative roots. Discrimination:This is a more obvious form of racism. When you treat a certain individual differently or make him the lesser person due to his race or cultural difference. It may be subtle, it may be blatantly rude, it may be unintentional, but it is still racism and is still bad and illogical. It is stemmed from dishonest and narrow minded roots and thus are unacceptable. Harassment. And then we got the grand daddy, harassing someone, physically, mentally, verbally and any other “*ally”'s you can think of.This is where we get back to slave level and are blatantly demolishing a person for his race and ethnic origin. Is enough ever enough?Now, I've gotten a little bit off topic here but I felt that it was required to fully understand what we generally mean when we speak of Racism. It's a broad window of usage and there is no limit to what could possibly be described as Racism. Now we can get back on topic, is there too many usages of the word in a modern society? Not at all. We're just getting more aware of it.In the equal world that we strive to create we must be ready to identify and criticize every form of racism we can find. There is a key difference between “You run as fast as a black man” and “You run much faster than anyone I know.” in one you're complementing someone based on your own experience and traits. In the other you're taking the entire population that identifies as “black” and giving them a trait that they automatically run fast, feeding a stereotype. It may not be the most negative of racist remarks there is but unfortunately you're still discriminating and separating that certain population from the rest of us in a way. Not all are good runners, some can't even walk to the end of the street without gasping for air. So giving them all a trait that is a part of the stereotype that they do not all abide to. We can see that Racism is much, much more sensitive than slurring out racial remarks, making ill-fated jokes and abusing the minority that walks among our society. It can be small remarks, a dark thought or systematic elimination of the minority in such a subtle way that we don't realize how wrong it is until someone notices that there isn't a minority to insult left. The younger generation is taught to be racist from their elders that lived in a world so incredibly ignorant on the subject that it knew no bounds. It thins out and becomes weaker and weaker, but it will never fully be washed from our memories. Because it is a sensitive subject that stemmed from sensitive origins we must take full action against it. Anything that discriminates one human being from another without a cause they can control is something that must be eliminated. Racism will never go away: but it is our job to find and shrink the windows that allow them to be. It is ours to reduce the social fears that causes these superior-complexes that causes people to act hostile towards those of different culture. It is ours to show that racism isn't a world where we want to live. Pardon my late reply, It's been a rough few days. :)