The closet. The Wikipedia article addresses it from a sexual viewpoint (which, historically, has been the primary viewpoint associated with any discussion of the closet), where it, as a terminology, is usually used to described repressed sexual behavior or interests.

So, if coming out of the sexual closet is seen as a good thing in the LGBT rights (and reclamation) movement, then why is racism or unrealistic racially/ethnically-based expectations not given the same treatment when the racism is alledgedly "closeted"?

"Closet racism" is seen as being just as pernicious as open and visible racism, or at least that’s what we’ve heard so much within the last few years concerning its nature; it came to prominence with the gaffes that surrounded the presidential campaign, usually involving Obama and/or Clinton(s) in an (in)direct way. This, I think, should be differentiated from "latent racism" in that while the "closet" is supposedly apparent in a continuous drip-drip sequence, the "latent" is so hidden from view that the bearer is not even aware that it exists, but can open it inadvertently in a more-than-obvious manner, thus landing the bearer in PR hot water.

The assumption is that those who are "closet racists" hide their own personal reservations or private outrages concerning race or ethnicity from public view for the sake of expediency, pleasing of a status quo, or winning a competition with a squeaky-slean record of affable accord with a ethnoracially-diverse population.

But I wonder: do we *really* want the "closet racists" to come out, be honest and flaunt ethnoracism with pride? Is the closet a good thing or a bad thing when it hides the stereotypes that are held by the bearer? Should we make an effort to extricate "closet racists" from office or places of power when it is assumed that those who are closeted may make their feelings known in the form of policies that affect millions or billions of people both in and out of the country?

But then, what to do when we have ethnoracially-based reservations, outrages and stereotypes of all types that wouldn’t let us make friends or get into places of prominence if they were made known or obvious?

Are we like the conservative caricature of Obama? Are we ticking time bombs who’ll, at some point, explode with an admiration for Hitler’s genocidal policies and a hard-on for military attire and weapon-brandishing, who’ll exhude a paternalistic violence and repression akin to what was seen in Milligram’s experiment, who’ll exhude some latent fear about the Jews taking over the world?

And what can we do about closet racism? Should it be made open to the public for naming-and-shaming purposes? How do we address it?

If we are racist, do we keep it to ourselves? Or not?