My thoughts on racism

On the topic of race, I sometimes hear people throw around a quantity with racism. Sometimes I hear people say that was a "little racist" or s/he is a "big racist". Are there levels of racism or am I totally wrong when I say that was racist, and I believe everyone is racist at times. Whether we believe it or not, I think at times our subconscious makes decisions without our consent that might be linked with particular stereotypes that we are exposed to in our culture. I think that most of the time we can filter the behavior but sometimes I feel there has been a learned instinct in all of us that particular stereotypes have been rooted in our development and just stick. If you were to say I have never done anything that could be considered racist, I challenge you to really think back and consider where you grew up, who were some of the biggest influences on your childhood, and how your elder's generation was. My grandma to this day always has a very politically incorrect way of saying things and I'm sure she isn't the only one in her age group who does this. A problem I see with the issue of racism is that it has been around for a long time, and although it may seem that progress is being made to move away from stereotypes and racism, the influence of the internet on children, stereotypes in the media, older generations of people, and those who don't know any better will carry this on to the next generation. It isn't a matter of fixing the problem because there is no solution and no end in site, I think the only way to deal with this problem is talk about it, understand it, and choose to educate others or maybe bring it to their attention when they say something that you have a problem with.