Nobody is justifying racism, just explaining identity politics that unconsciously makes us biased towards someone who shares similar values with us. It's more obvious in the USA as it is a multi-cultural country made of immigrants, who generally tend to feel insecure and thus tend to turn to their own cultural community to feel more secure. Unfortunately this insecurity is often exploited by right-wing politicians and used by them to create an us-vs-them mentality that leads to things like racism and discrimination.

“It becomes part of self-worth to value one's cohort above those that are seen as opressive.”

Meaning that its ok to be racist against the race that is perceived as oppressive. I dont subscribe to that and it proves my point. There is a sense of “racial preference” and the justification is that comment above. I think an eye for an eye will make us all blind and it needs to stop. We really need to move beyond this nonsense.

Edit: I agree with your edited comment:

“Unfortunately this insecurity is often exploited by right-wing politicians and used by them to create an us-vs-them mentality that leads to things like racism and discrimination.”

But i dont agree that people should self segregate as that is another form of racism. This vicious circle needs to end.

However your comment also seems to prove my point. There is a sense of racism but it would seem to be defensive racism. Ie we stay away from them because they have something against us.

Am i correct in my understanding? Genuine question as i genuinely want to understand the topic.

Misrepresenting the point that was being made, to manufacture an objection.

It was a description of identity politics, made to clarify why attitudes are different in different places/peoples. Not some kind of policy suggestion.

I think i understand where the issue stems as there are a lot of defensive insinuations here. I am not misrepresenting. I am potentially misunderstanding. I can critique germany or america and there will be nowhere near this level of tension. I never looked down upon india or indians and i never considered india as a weak country. Thus i felt at liberty to critique. To me it appears tho that my comments are taken as insults instead of just the usual debates that country or culture X has wrong Y policy or view.

Educate me as i am listening. Clarify my misunderstandings so i can make better judgment next time.

> But i dont agree that people should self segregate as that is another form of racism. This vicious circle needs to end.

Very true. I believe we are talking about the same thing - you are absolutely right that if we aren't self-aware of our biases, we can fall victim to our own prejudice against others (especially if we are exposed to right-wing propaganda). Unfortunately this can be a difficult thing to realise unless we are secure and at peace with ourselves (which is why right-wing politics always tries to keep society in a tense state, as their politics only work when people can't think rationally). Another issue is that people generally have social anxiety when trying to mingle with other cultures, and so they often take the easy way out of avoiding meeting people and expanding their social circle due to their personal inhibitions (let's face it, even though we are supposed to be social creatures, we humans have a tough time socialising and building relationship with others!). This is ofcourse detrimental to ourselves and our society.