Sadly you're right about this, I guess the question is: Is this an instinct we can override?

There's no reason why we don't divide ourselves by hair colour, or eye colour, or height, yet we don't. So what's so special about skin colour? Beyond the fact that this is something we've done for a few hundered years, I don't see a good answer. What keeps it going is simply the anger and distrust and fear that has built up in its wake.

Moving past racism means moving past those feelings. And that's going to be really tough for some people. That's one of many reasons why I'm so horrified that people are forcing it into the heads of children. But at the root of it all is the same simple logical error:

"You're like this person because you share X characteristic with this person."

It's such a small logical hurdle to overcome. But if we can, we can start looking at these problems as human problems rather than "racial" problems. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy to get humans to care about each other either 😅 but it's a step in the right direction.

p.s. I was born in England but I've lived all over the world. I'm a bit of a nomad.