Ever think about how many people don't think racist things are racist simply because of the historical but inaccurate portrayal of racism as a solely minority behavior?

I know that doesn't make a ton of sense on its own, but hopefully this is followable. Part of the way history has been misexplained to us is not only that racism is a thing of the past, it's also that when racism "was" a problem, it was contained, and that's why virtue won out

Obviously white society wants to minimize just how racist this country's always been, while simultaneously patting themselves on the back for solving racism. That's a hard line to walk, denying the existence of something but taking credit for fixing

So what you have instead is the widespread retelling of history of racism as being about certain figures, George Wallaces and the like, and Zimmermans and Roofs. They've been successfully cast as aberrations to the system instead of parts of them

The interesting connection this creates is people believing, not exactly consciously, but as a gut feeling, that majority beliefs cannot be racist; majority beliefs are the will of the people, therefore they can't be bad, and racism is bad so it can't be that widespread

This is a little different from just refusing to be labeled a racist, or denial of the existence of racism; this is more like "I refuse to believe that more than 5% of the country is racist, so I will adjust what I consider racism to always make that true"

It's a slightly different way of looking at it, it's sort of an Overton-mindful way of understanding what makes denial such an enticing thing to people who are capable of grasping nuance in other areas