Over the last year, several celebrities have gone on media rants where they let slip (or unleashed) racial slurs and tirades that are typically relegated to backstage social spaces. Among the most notable: Michael Richards' tirade at the Laugh Factory where he used the "n-word" repeatedly, Duane "Dog" Chapman's use of the same racial slur in a telephone call to his son, and Mel Gibson's verbal barrage of anti-Jewish stereotypes when pulled over for a DUI.

What I find ironic and interesting about these issues is that no matter how offensive and inflammatory the statements are, somehow the speakers themselves are rarely, if ever, labeled racist. The statements they make may be labeled racist, but the speakers vehemently deny that they are. The idea seems to be that racists are only those who self-identify as such: Klansmen, neo-Nazis, or members of other hate groups who openly claim "racist" as a self-identity that they embrace and accept. Even among everyday Americans, people who openly and regularly engage in racist acts, statements, and behaviors stubbornly insist that despite these actions they really are not racist people.

Is being racist now simply subject to the individual's choice? Are you only racist if you self-identify as such? [...]