Jefferson was not a "racist," he was a "white" man. That is, he believed that there was something called a "white race," was proud to be a member of it, waxed eloquent about its virtues and belived it vastly superior to all other "races" which he and many of his "white" contemporaries claimed to be able to identify. What's not grasped--or avoided--in declaring Jefferson a "racist" is that he had a more fundamental problem: he was "white." Furthurmore, Jefferson could not have been a "racist" because the term had no currency in the 19th century. Or more to the point, black contemporaries of Jefferson thought of him not as a "racist" but as a "white" man with, broadly speaking, standard "white" man's problems.
The term "racist" (and all its cognates) is misleading and, therefore, useless. The term implies race not as an always evolving social and historical construct but as a biological fact--if you doubt that, check any dictionary or think about the various popular or political interpretations of the concept. America's biggest problem both in Jefferson's time and today is not the "racist" but "white" people. As long as America has "white" people, America will continue to be a slave to the worst aspects of its past. Continued usage of the term "racist," etc., obfuscates and distorts historical and social reality, frustrates understanding of self and society, and undermines political struggle.
Niles