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There are few words that can cause as deep an emotional response as a racial slur. Internally, many people loudly proclaim the US to be 'evil' because of the way non-white men and women have been treated, and many decry the US as a racist country. But is America truly a racist country or are these loud proclamations simply the angry outburst of disgruntled individuals looking for another reason to complain?

On July 4th, 1776, the American Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men who asserted,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (US Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

On September 17th, 1787, another group of 39 men gathered and signed the original US Constitution. In this document, however, rather than promoting the concept of all men being created equal, our founding fathers incorporated in our country the standard that free white men counted, yet all others, including the non-tax paying American Indians and those in slavery, could not be counted as equal.

Fortunately, we have made significant strides since those days. But, after 220 years of struggle, does our country remain a hotbed of racism?

Intellectually speaking, I do not believe that there is a significant level of institutionalized racism remaining in the United States. The color of a person's skin is no longer a determining factor in the level to which a person can go. In politics and in corporate America, minorities of all races have risen to some of the most senior levels, and with the current popularity of Barack Obama, we may soon see our first black President. The color of a person's skin no longer determines the level to which they may rise.

Yet still, many still claim that America is a racist country. After Hurricane Katrina, many claimed that the flooding of New Orleans was a 'plot' to murder blacks and reclaim the city for whites. Our US Congress voted to build a fence on the US Southern border, and others claim it is racism against Latinos. A black woman makes claims of being raped by three white men, and people blame racism and make it national headline news for months.

Specific events such as these are used to justify the assertion of racism while providing no statistical evidence. Other claims are more scientific in that statistics are used to prove that minorities are:

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