When are we going to stop laying the blame elsewhere? I agree with those who say that racism is a societal and cultural problem, not a mental illness. Individuals like Buford Furrow - or those wastes of human flesh who dragged James Byrd to his death a few years back in Texas - who commit extremely violent hate crimes may suffer from a mental illness, but it sure as hell isn't racism. Their racism is a manifestation of a deeper psychological problem. It's a copout. Those that they lash out against are scapegoats for their own inadequacies.