And given the vagaries and complexity of modern life, we can use all the help we can get. What I mean by intellectual laziness has to do with making sweeping generalizations about groups of people, which is also at the core of racism. It is always easier to extrapolate from one to the whole group. Maybe a few. To judge people individual by individual requires character and patience and imagination.
Racism is simply a cop-out.
A third aspect of racism to consider is that it can and has become a self -fulfilling prophesy. Once a hierarchy is established by the first in power in any given situation, it is very difficult to erode it. In experiments, the researchers have given black and white undergraduate students standardized tests. In one case they told the students the test was a measure of their intellectual ability. In the other, they described the test as an abstract research tool.