You imagine a reality better than the one in which you presently live. Hope goes against everything you can see. That hope sometimes flies in the face of the pessimism and racial intolerance teenagers hear expressed by their elders. Children of color face similar pressures. You're going to change when they treat you wrong.
Parents too can serve as regressive influences, though perhaps less so than in the past.
One out of 8 white teens and 1 out of 9 black youngsters say they've heard their parents say something negative about another race. I'd tell the guy to go to hell. Some observers see trouble ahead because of the continued deprivation of so many black families in wrecked city neighborhoods. They are growing up in isolation. That in itself can breed bigotry.