Texaco agreed to make a $176.1 million apology last Friday to settle a race discrimination suit that evolved after a “good old boys” network at the company reserved the best promotions for whites.

The case itself is not unusual, but it does raise a staggering comparison to racism in society today and 30 years ago.

Racism was prominent in the 1960s. People protested everywhere. There were sit-ins, marches and moving speeches. These actions represented a message people struggled to get across loud and clear: eliminate racism.

A generation later, many people still have not listened to the message. Although racism is not at the height of uproar in terms of visibility as it was in the 1960s, it still exists. But this time, it happens behind closed doors.

It happens when a corporate board meeting is filled with all white executives. It happens when a white neighborhood excludes a minority family from a neighborhood watch program. It happens when a person refers to someone as a “nigger” at a bar. It happens when a group of males make racist jokes in a dorm room.

Most people, whether or not they believe racism exists, will not deny it exists in today’s society because doing so is unacceptable.

However, it is wrong to politically deny that America is very much a racist society.

“Our top political leaders, scholars and commentators all tell themselves and the general public racism is dead or dying, and it’s a great white lie,” said Joe Feagin, a University of Florida sociology professor. “Racism is very much alive…”

As long as people are racist in conversation, if not in action, then racism is still very much alive, even if it is behind closed doors.