I've observed after spending time on both sides of the Atlantic that there is a huge cultural difference between notions of racism in the Americans and Europeans that this post touches on: in Europe, the very mention of Difference is considered racist per se; in the U.S., the *failure* to talk openly about Difference is considered racist. (The same applies to homophobia: if you even *talk* about homosexuality, it's homophobic to many Europeans.)

Now imagine what a European thinks the first time he or she has to fill out a questionnaire with the question, "What race/ethnicity are you?" They can't imagine usually that all we want to find out in asking for this information is if things are diverse enough.

The cultural difference adds a layer of complexity when Europeans and Americans try to talk about otherness.