If you say racist things, you are a racist.

“I’m not racist, but…”

There are so many things that aren’t racist these day, it’s wonderful.

It makes life really, really easy for everyone.

Telling racist jokes. That’s not racist, that’s just a bit of fun.

Attending a protest that’s ‘reclaiming’ Australia for the white folk? Not even a little bit racist. That’s just taking part in an ‘open and free debate’.

Making sweeping generalisations about the sort of work that people do, based on their race. That’s definitely not racist, that’s just TRUE, right? Just ask Kelly Osbourne.

Booing a footballer because they called out racism? That is the least racist thing you can do. That’s just “calling out a dickhead”.

There is so little racism in mainstream culture these days, it makes Anglo-Australians – like myself – feel proud to be such ‘tolerant’ and well-adjusted souls. All warm and fuzzy.

At last, us poor, oppressed anglos, under-represented in the media as we are, are free from the constricting shackles of “political correctness”, free from the fear of offending sensitive minorities, free to let our rapacious wit run free.

Am I right? No. I am not.

It’s been a week when the media – both the conventional and the ‘social’ kind – has never been so full of that catch-cry of bigots everywhere, “I’m not racist, but…”

And really, it’s well over time for that phrase to be retired. We are all beyond it.

Because, this:

Saying racist things is what racist people do. Making enormous generalisations about people based on their ethnicity is what racists do. Abusing people because they dared to call into question the status quo of the country’s racial hierarchy is what racists do.

You can’t tell if someone is racist by looking at them. You can tell by listening to them. So let’s stop pretending that “racists” are only the people with scary tattoos and blood on their boots, and the rest of us are just ‘telling it like it is’.

The excuses have run dry.

Alcohol is not an excuse for racism. (Sorry, John Galliano.)

A “brain snap” is not an excuse for racism. (Sorry sports commentators, but a “brain snap” is not even A Thing).

Having to be amusing on TV is not an excuse for racism. (Sorry, Jeremy Clarkson.)

Being old is not an excuse for racism (Sorry, Prince Phillip).

Of course, we are all products of our environment and upbringing. We are all more comfortable with what we know.

Few of us live completely without prejudice of any kind. It could be an almost impossible goal to achieve a judgement-free state.

But it’s a goal worth striving for to judge people on their actions and words, not their ethnicity or their faith.

It’s a goal worth striving for to not add to the toxic casual racism that we excuse ourselves of daily.

And it’s a goal worth striving for to examine our own motivations for saying the things we say.

“I’m not racist, but…” sells everyone short.

Want more on this topic? Try these:

Adam Goodes isn’t “playing the victim”. He’s being silenced by thugs.

Reclaim Australia’s message of hate may be wrapped in a pretty ribbon. But it’s still a message of hate.

Dear Karl Stefanovic, your casual racism was not okay. And nor is this apology.