Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

In this case, I couldn't agree with you more. Using the word "racist" basically shuts down conversation and learning -- because it is still such a powerful word. Because if we cry "racism," then all the white kids get defensive and deny what that they are doing is racist, and when they are in denial mode they can't listen or change. So yes, I think we need another word. We need a different word (or words) to describe when White kids thoughtlessly do something that impacts Black and Brown kids negatively - a word without such a charge, that can help kids learn. Ideally it should be like telling someone "hey, the refrigerator door is open." There is no emotional charge there, just information.

Instead of trying to find a different word, in our case we have normalized talking about race and racism and tried to remove some of the charge from the word. But that can be confusing for the kids in the larger cultural context.

I think part of the issue is that when I was a kid we could talk about racism as something that was safely "out there." And today, much of the talk of racism seems to be about unconscious bias, systemic racism, and institutional racism. In today's conversation, we seem to be finding racism under every stone we lift up. I have to believe that some of that racism that people are finding was there all along, and deserves to be called such, and other times we need different words to describe something that is still wrong.