Prejudice, Racism, and Katrina

Paul Krugman has a very good op ed piece in today's NY Times titled Tragedy in Black and White where he raises the question of race in the handling of Katrina. He cites polls that show that African-Americans believe 3 to 1 that race was a factor while anglos think the opposite by a similar ratio.
good stuff... but sadly he falls into a common trap that many folk succumb to... he confuses racism and prejudice.
Prejudice is a characteristic of individuals who prejudge another because of race or any other quality. An example is obvious. When an individual sees a group of black teenagers walking down the street and crosses to the other side to avoid them, the individual has exhibited prejudice.
Racism is a systemic thing... it occurs when a system is rigged to work against a given racial group. When an African-American child goes to a poor school, has poor nutrition and poor support from parents who are struggling to survive, is unable to get into a good university because of that, doesn't have the opportunity to network and get the best jobs with the best companies or go to the best grad schools, or even drops out because they were inadequately prepared for higher education... and then ends up with a lower income, racism is at work. The other side is equally true. When a white student who is at best average in ability and below average in motivation gets into Yale (we'll not name names) while many more qualified minorities end up at community college, racism is at work.
Racism and prejudice can operate separately. A person can be prejudiced but not live in a racist system or a person can exibit no prejudice but because she lives in and benefits from a racist system, they are racist. They do however tend to feed one another.
I don't see any way that a reasonable argument can be made that we do not live in a racist system in the US. Just looking at statistics of poverty and race proves it. I also think it is virtually impossible to grow up in the US and not be prejudiced. Even Jesse Jackson says that he is because he too gets nervous, speeds up, and crosses the street when he hears a group of black teenagers walking behind him.
Bottom line... I'm part of the minority of anglo folk who agree with the majority of black folk - race was/is a factor in what happened in New Orleans and it will continue to be as we see moneyed developers (read white folk) jockey to gentrify the city as it is rebuilt and poor minorities end up left out again.
As people of faith. We need to work to subvert the system and work for ways that all folk have equal opportunity in our culture.