Have you ever heard these phrases and others to deny being a racist?

• “I’m colorblind. I don’t see color.”
• “Some of my very best friends are black.”
• “Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, ‘I believe people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.’”
• “I am not a racist. I don’t hate black people.”

Depending on the audience, these deflective and defensive phrases invoke a sense of community or trigger frustration for lack of awareness. These statements rarely address the motives underlying racist behaviors, but attempt to shift the conversation to the character of the offended party, instead.

In a press release dated March 11, 2026, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned that “racist hate speech by political leaders, including the president, combined with intensified immigration crackdowns in the United States, notably near schools, hospitals and faith-based institutions, has sparked grave human rights violations.”

The United Nations cited human rights violations as “right to life and liberty, freedom of speech and assembly, fair trial, and protection from arbitrary detention.” When these rights were violated, we saw the repercussions of ICE agents deployed in Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland and Washington, D.C. through traditional and digital media.

Further, the impact of “racist hate speech” is seen in the elimination of diversity, equity, inclusion programs, and voter suppression.

• “We elected President Barack Obama. We no longer need diversity, equity, inclusion, or voting rights protection.”
• “Affirmative Action only benefits black people. It’s reverse discrimination against white people.”

According to a 2025 study by the League of Women Voters, the overwhelming beneficiary of affirmative action DEI for both college admissions and jobs are women, specifically white women.

Through racist hate speech, we detect misinformation, dog whistles, repeating of lies to insist they become the truth, intimidation, and always giving people someone to blame in the media. Absent of facts, racist hate speech casts doubt about the integrity of our election process, empowers the judging of immigrants from certain countries as being undocumented, and embraces civil discord through various media reports. Racist hate speech forces you to question the motive behind this behavior. Is it because of hate or self-interests?

“When policies aimed at producing racial equality and justice are proposed, the opposition is, in part, due to racism or prejudice,” said David C. Wilson, co-author of “Racial Resentment in the Political Mind” and dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkley. “But the stronger factors are tied to uncertainty about how the politics will disrupt a way of life that most whites have learned to navigate and benefit from.”

Self-interest favors the status quo. Self-interest resists changes. Self-interest causes anxiety. Self-interest fails to consider what is best for society as whole. Self-interest represents greed. Self-interests drives racist hate speech.

In Nancy MacLean’s book, “Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan,” MacLean cited Chester D. Morton (a white man) as one who joined the Klan for self-interests to eliminate his Jewish competitor in the funeral business. Morton knew the Klan despised the Jews and would never allow them to join their organization. As a result, Morton obtained a competitive advantage by joining the Klan for his funeral business. His motivation had nothing to do with hate but was driven by self-interest.

We can apply this same motivational principle of self-interest at the expense of humanity for the racist hate speech we’re hearing today.