User blog comment:Varzan Deodinm Beldinm/Volume 2: Will the Fan Feedback Pay Off?/@comment-89.101.114.87-20140702124104/@comment-24994749-20140702143418

The bullying thing can be labeled as racism because:

1) he was picking at her ears and called her a freak because of them,

2) he refeers to faunus as "animals".

Being racist doesn't mean he will be nice to his own race. You can be racist, sexist and a ton of other bad things at the same time.

Cardin is a bully, that means he will take advantage over anyone he deems can be put on a position of inferiority next to him and, in a racist society, a faunus sitting on he rown and seemingly shy like Velvet is an easy target; other easy targets are people like Jaune that can't fight all that well.