institutional racism, and the casual racism of language, the racial nature of the dispensation of justice, and the enforcement of poverty by reason of race and ethnicity

In so many ways, there's the nub.

While I've had some (minor and limited but discernable) success in removing institutional racism I've found that language is the hardest to change. Various experiences have led me to believe that, if we can't change our use of language, we won't make much progress in changing the other aspects of racism. Perhaps I should write "I" instead of "we" in this post.

There are others more eloquent than I'll ever be who've demonstrated the power of language and racism is, fundamentally, projection of power (whether real or imagined) and it's when I've concentrated on how I'm using language that I've been able to realise the likely effects and meanings that I've not intended.

And they're so "trivial"! "Black as the ace of spades"; relatively innocuous except where "Spade" is used as a pejorative, but "black hearted"? Perhaps it was around before Europeans started colonising Africa but it has collected layers of meaning relevant to this discussion. And there are worse that every different culture knows and uses. But until we start to exercise some control over how we use them they'll still exercise power.

And if you see me trip, feel free to set me straight.

Cheers, Rowan