@josie I have no idea if and to what degree you may be subconsciously racist because I have no idea to what extent you might honestly believe that accusations of racism are merely rhetorical devices. The fact of the matter is, none of us know who the people behind the avatars really are (with perhaps a few exceptions). For all I know, you are a rabid socialist carrying out a false flag operation here on Fluther. For all you know, I’m the head of the Westboro Baptist Church. Both are unlikely, of course, but the fact remains that we cannot be certain. As such, all we can do is deal with the arguments that are presented.
In any case, it is certainly possible that you are subconsciously racist. There has been quite a bit of research done on implicit bias, summed up quite well in Timothy Wilson’s excellent book Strangers to Ourselves. Indeed, one of the things that studies into subconscious attitudes has revealed is that implicit bias exists even in many who have actively attempted to overcome their own prejudicial tendencies. It is important to remember, however, that there are different kinds and degrees of prejudice. Thus when someone calls something racist, they are not necessarily saying that it is the act of a deeply bigoted person.
Consider a person who locks their doors whenever driving through a black neighborhood, but never does so when driving through a white neighborhood. If this habit has no correlation to any non-prejudicial reason for the action (e.g., if the actual amount of crime that occurs in these neighborhoods is equivalent, or if some of the white neighborhoods are more dangerous than any of the black neighborhoods), then it very well might reveal latent racism in a person who acts this way. But one can call the action racist without saying that the person themselves is a racist in any overt or conscious way. Not all racist behaviors make one the moral equivalent of a Klan member, even if they are all worth investigating and correcting.
@cheebdragon Subconscious prejudice—or implicit bias, as it is often called in the scientific literature—is unfortunately much more serious than dreaming. It has proven effects on people’s behavior, even people who sincerely believe they are free of such tendencies. Implicit gender bias has been demonstrated to exist in classrooms, for instance, even after a teacher has undergone training meant to combat privileging members of one sex over the other. And as both men and women are the targets of this sort of implicit bias in different circumstances, we all have reason to be concerned. (I rather think we would all have reason to be concerned anyway, but I recognize that some people only care when something is likely to affect them personally.)