To be clear, I'm not saying that I do treat all people equally, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, etc. I grew up in an environment filled with stereotypes, and they do seep through. I can only strive to avoid having that bias affect how I treat people. If it does leak through, I try to recognize it and do better in the future.
That is what is known as colorblind racism in current social justice thinking. The idea is that treating people equally is inappropriate because you are ignoring the impact of the various oppressions they have experienced.
Some people would go as far as to say this is a cornerstone of white supremacy.
Only if you assume that everyone's circumstances are equivalent. If a diabetic asks for insulin, I don't believe that the only consistent positions are either give everyone or no one insulin.
Similarly, if someone's background (say gender) results in fewer mentorship opportunities because of the ol' boys club, I'm happy to put in some effort to put them in touch with people.
So you don’t in fact treat everyone equally then based on race or gender.
The point I am making is not about whether you are racist though, it’s that saying that you treat all races equally is enough to be classed as racist, regardless of your actual behavior.
To be clear, I'm not saying that I do treat all people equally, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, etc. I grew up in an environment filled with stereotypes, and they do seep through. I can only strive to avoid having that bias affect how I treat people. If it does leak through, I try to recognize it and do better in the future.