"Race is an issue we don't often talk about in this country. People of color often talk about it a lot, but we don't listen," Paul Marcus said in speech to nearly 100 students and prospective students April 9 at the Intercultural Center. Marcus, co-director of Community Change, Inc. an organization that fights institutional racism, encouraged an open dialogue about race between participants in the discussion titled, "I'm not a racist, am I?"

At the beginning of the talk, Marcus asked each attendee to write a personal definition of racism on a sheet of paper. He then called on students to read their responses. These included such definitions as "assumptions about people based on someone's race," "stereotypes one group has about individuals of another race" and "overt or hidden forms of judging others based on color of skin."

Marcus then wrote his own definition of racism on a blackboard: "Racism = race prejudice + power". He added that a racist society is structured on the negative aspects of race, as opposed to a multicultural society based on the benefits of diversity.

"In a society constructed on race," he said, "each race is given a social definition and expected to conform to racial norms based on that definition." He added that there currently may have a diverse society, but its not have an equitable one.

Marcus pointed out that the terms society uses to refer to poor urban communities differ based on the race of the neighborhood's residents. For example, the black area is referred to as "the ghetto," the Hispanic district is "the barrio" and the Asian quarter is "Chinatown." But, in the local example, he said, the poor white neighborhood is called "South Boston."

A few students asked Marcus whether he believed minorities could be racist. He said that on an individual level a minority person could be "a racist." But true "racism," he said, is when a group in power institutionalizes discrimination against a minority group. Therefore, according to him, in America only whites currently possess the ability to propagate racism as an organized system.

Marcus then gave an example of institutionalized white racism. He said in the past, Crayola produced a crayon called "flesh." It was a peach color, clearly only correlating to the flesh of whites. To minorities, he said, this reinforced the idea that they were inadequate compared to the dominant group.

According to Marcus, affirmative action is necessary to redress past (and current) mistreatment of minority groups. He said when a white student claims he would have gotten into a better university if he were black, the student is missing the point.

"The assumption is if I were a black kid I'd be the same person," he said. "But if you were black, you wouldn't be you." Facing discrimination and educational and socioeconomic barriers as a minority gives one a significantly different experience from whites, he said.

Racism is not just harmful to minorities, according to Marcus. It also does whites a disservice. For example, he said, racism has provided a wedge between working-class whites and working-class people of color in the fight against the upper class. It has also led to a climate of fear in which whites are driven to live in gated, suburban communities apart from minority groups they consider "dangerous."

Marcus said he acknowledges he has racism inside of him, but said he believes education is the proper way to combat racist thoughts. His family came to the United States through Ellis Island and did not own slaves. But he said that does not mean he can or should absolve himself from fighting racism. "The past isn't my fault," he said, "but I can do something about the present."

The event was co-sponsored by the Society Organized Against Racism, AHORA!, the Brandeis Asian American Student Association and the Brandeis Black Student Organization.