Yes, absolutely. I'm not disputing this at all. I'm just saying that racism is a rebranding of this instinct that only occured about 400 years ago for the purpose of justifying slavery. Again, this isn't in any way an atempt to minimise the suffering and oppression of other people throughout history.

At the time, the arbitrary line (or I guess not very arbitrary to them) wasn't colour, it was whether you were a Christian or not. Christians couldn't be kept as slaves, "heathens" could.

But as more and more Africans converted to Christianity, and the existing justifications for slavery became untenable, another excuse was needed. And some bright spark came up with the idea of race. Again, the linked article is very interesting. I highly recommend giving it a read.

Haha, as for Mystal's essay, let's just agree that it was not his finest work. I don't have anything to compare it to. But this work doesn't set a very high bar. So I'm sure he's cleared it in other places.