[IfOnlyYouKnew]

When a bank teller hands me a bag of cash because I'm pointing a gun a them, it's robbery.

When a police officer forces me to hand the bag of cash back to the cashier, it isn't robbery.

Motives and circumstances matter.

> America's "historical baggage"? As if every other nation on Earth doesn't have similar historical baggage.

Other countries' transgressions don't absolve the US', in the same way that other people's crimes don't absolve all criminals. And while there are probably few people that never break any laws, there's still a difference between murderers and jaywalkers. For countries, there are obviously small countries that avoided committing atrocities just by a lack of opportunity. There are recently formed countries that enjoy what for Germans born after 1945 is called "the good luck of being born late". And even among larger countries with long and sometimes dark histories, not all injustice is equal: it's plainly possible to see the injustice of France's conduct in Algeria while still acknowledging it pales in comparison to the Shoah.

[onetimeposter1]

I'm not saying the fact that human societies have historically been racist absolves the US, I'm saying it puts things in perspective (which you acknowledge is important).

In the world today the most racist nations are not the developed nations, but large parts of Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.