In part this is because of all the feelings that we project onto the stuff. We will never create a perfect world without hatred and injustice. Yet, unless we are engaged to relieve the suffering around us, we don't feel fully human. We all carry the ingredients of racism, though they may not come together that way. Racism is a spiritual issue.
Life is a series of transitions.
We die out of one phase to be born into another. The birth of the new year is the death of the old. Marriage is death as a single person. The birth of your first child marks your death as a person without child rearing responsibilities. The attitude with which we face death is a clear reflection of the attitude with which we face life.