Man. I had written a long - and what I thought was eloquent - reply, and I lost it. I hate it when that happens.

You sound like you may be living in the Philippines. If so, I've got a small house in Quezon City where we intend to (someday) retire. My sons went to school first in America, then in QC, and my youngest (who can pass for 100% White) says he and his wife intend to raise their kids (when they have them) in QC, not just because of the culture, but also because there's much less drugs and no guns in the schools there. That, and the schools encourage learning in teams rather than on the kind of emphasis on the individual as is the case here in America.

I'd disagree that we're born racist - I'm sure you've seen how little children play with each other without a thought about race. But you're essentially right in that it's basically impossible to grow up in this world without learning race and racism, biases and prejudice. That being said, the ubiquitous nature of prejudice (of which racism and bias against ethnicities and religions are but subsets) does not mean we should stop fighting against such prejudice wherever it is found.

Fortunately, most people try to continually overcome their prejudices with intent and intellect, courtesy (and all the other virtues) being the grease that lubricates the wheels of society.

I'm sure you found - as I did - that in the third-world nations in Asia, differences in race and racism are accepted as a part of life and (usually) ignored. In my experience, the more egregious forms of racism are found in the more ethnically-homogeneous nations.