The Organization of American States reported this week that social inequalities and racism persist in Brazil, and that police violence is rising in Rio.

The prospect that such unthinking racism persists in our musical world is chilling, and it diminishes the lives of white and black musicians alike.

But racism and discrimination persist, and there are still substantial disparities between blacks and whites on most indicators of social and economic well-being.

It's simply what makes racism persist and flourish.

As racism in general persists, so does antisemitism, although institutional anti-semitism, common before the 1960s, has essentially disappeared.

Can one deny that racism persists?

Certainly, American racism persists, as does the the rage that it incites.

Not only does racism persist, he lamented, but black Cubans lack the racial identity to do anything about it.

During a sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral, he urged his listeners to see in their neighbors "the likeness of Christ" and said that racism persisted in "too many Catholics."

However, elements of mutual mistrust or dislike, and occasionally overt racism, also persist.