Living in a city that is more progressive than not, it is easy to forget that racism is not only a tactic used by governments and political action groups, but is practiced by otherwise normal individuals.

Last night, while chatting outside a Bennigan's restaurant, my group and me were approached by a man. He had long, straight, blond hair and slightly resembled musician Kid Rock.

As he walked up to our group of four, he singled out our friend Tom and invited him to read the back of his t-shirt. I could see before he turned around that displayed on the front of this shirt was the flag for the Confederate States of America. On the back was text that read something like this, "If we would have known it was going to be such a big deal, we would have picked our own cotton. White Pride!"

After giving Tom the chance to read this racist statement, the man posed to give a high-five which Tom did so as not to upset the stranger. Afterward, he said "white pride" and walked away into the night.