Liam Neeson and Revenge

A Hollywood actor who is promoting a revenge-themed movie recently talked about how he wanted to kill a black man, any black man, after one of his friends was raped by one. His two points presumably was about how vengeance is a powerful force and how all of us are consciously or unconsciously racist. That interview drew strong reactions. Some people applauded him for his frankness, which curiously came just when he was promoting a movie. Others lambasted him for trying to pass of such repellent views as acceptable with the justification that he was feeling vengeful because his friend had just been raped. After all, if the rapist had been white, it is unlikely that he would have thought about killing a white man, or himself. Some people said his views exposed how black men, especially, are routinely dehumanized while others pointed out. Others pointed out that simply by voicing such feelings, he was leaning on his privilege as a white male.
I don't know where I stand on this one. I believe most of us are racist to differing extents, but that doesn't give the racist system we live in a free pass. It is because it is difficult not be in a racist system, and the same holds true for any other form of discrimination. But the other point is whether to talk about uncharitable, or even violent, impulses that we are ashamed of. Is it better to air them or keep them to ourselves? An obvious ground rule is whether airing them will do more harm than good to the target of those impulses. But that of course is not easy to figure out. Another way of looking it is we cannot control our thoughts, only our actions, so why valorize our thoughts so much? Just because you feel like murdering someone doesn't mean you are actually going to do it.