That’s something that I think is fascinating as well but that I found I’m not even remotely surprised by. Rick made it extremely clear that he has no tolerance for ignorance in “Guts” when he apprehended Merle after everyone present was forced to listen to the drug addled asshole spew his white supremacist racist bullshit.

He could’ve just taken Merle down. He didn’t have to say what he did. He really didn’t. But he makes a point to insult Merle’s intelligence, or lack thereof. He lets him know he isn’t above anyone, hasn’t ever been above anyone, and never will be above anyone. And he makes it abundantly clear that the last thing anyone needs to be hung up on is race, because it’s the least of their worries. 

I also got the sense that he was genuinely irked by Merle’s blatant fucking racism and disrespect. The parts I put emphasis on are actually the parts he seems to put emphasis on, and I mean he emphasizes vocally and with a gun. If you can you should totally go back and check it out. It’s almost as though he’d seen enough of that shit to last him two lifetimes. 

Which is why, I just have to add this really quickly, I’m always head-scratcher confused when fans of the show push their racist ideals off on the character? It’s like they didn’t even bother watching the first season of the show. They really have, some of them, convinced themselves that there’s no way he could ever see Michonne in that way (which is just coded racism) but there’s so much evidence stacked against them it isn’t even funny anymore. 

Rick Grimes isn’t an intolerant racist and if the looks he gives Michonne aren’t enough to convince those that think his mind works in a similar way as theirs then they need to commit the quote above to memory. He shut that shit down right off the bat.  

So, yeah, I couldn’t agree more. Love definitely has no color as far as Rick Grimes is concerned.