The eradication of racism will require that people rethink their basic assumptions about human nature:

• A person's character, worth, and ideas, they must learn, stem from his or her volitional consciousness, not from physical or genetic characteristics.
  
• The fundamental unit of human action is not the "race" or any other collective category, but the individual.
  
• Each individual is therefore responsible only for his or her actions.
  
• Legitimate self-esteem must be earned by the individual's actions, and cannot be "inherited" from one's race or ancestry.
  

Progress toward the elimination of racism is only impeded by those who attempt to redefine it in collectivist terms—for example, by some recent so-called civil-rights leaders who describe racism as a form of "group oppression." Racial groups are not real entities capable of "oppressing" or any other form of metaphysical action, but merely mental abstractions; indeed, many scientists dispute whether "race" is a valid scientific concept at all. Oppression can stem only from individuals, and be directed against individuals; to impute it to a race as a whole is to abandon reality and to perpetuate racist thinking. In the battle against racism and similar forms of collectivism, proper concepts and definitions, developed in the objective, reality-based manner outlined in Section 1, are our primary weapons.     

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