> I'm pretty sure most people are in agreement that racist caricatures are bad.

I am pretty sure it’s the opposite considering how the concept of racism has morphed in recent years.

> my meaning was that this "cancellation" (which is really just people acknowledging that something is bad) is not applied by some power structure

This is oxymoronic. Perhaps you misunderstand what power structure means. It doesn’t have to be a legal institution or centralized in any way.