I don't think so. The only way we could ever be totally free from Racism is if there were only one race among the entire population. It takes different races to generate Racism. ************************************************************************************************************* Go to YouTube and type in Tom Lehrer. Lehrer (now 90 years old) was a Harvard Mathematics Professor, and also a talented piano-playing Satirist. Back in the 60's, Lehrer was popular for comically bashing any convention dear to the general public. Go to YouTube, type Tom Lehrer, National Brotherhood Week, and play the video. You'll see what I mean! (Poisoning Pigeons in the Park was also a favorite) Hal
To share a video from Youtube, all you have to do is click where it says share, underneath the video. This will copy the link, and then you can just paste it into your post, @Hal Pollner.
Tom Lehrer set the stage for those who followed, such as Mark Russell, and got away with some incredible things in his day. "The Vatican Rag" and "It's Great to be a Soldier" were a couple of my favorites. Racism has always been with us and will probably always be, especially if you consider ethic groups (Jews, Armenians, etc.) to be races.
For the most part, I think racism is the result of unfamiliarity, but efforts to force familiarity on people have had largely negative effects, I think. The same is true of anything that doesn't allow people to say what they mean. The threat of dire punishment might force someone not to express a racist sentiment but it probably serves only to strengthen the racism that they may have in their hearts.
I think it will be a very long time before America is free of racism, not in my generation or my kids generation, maybe never, regardless how familiar they get. Lack of familiarity may affect some few.
If there was only one race, humans would still find reasons to hate each other. Not all of us but some of us. It seems to be some kind of built in need.
I'm basing my opinion and statement on people I know personally across Texas and those I have encountered across the South. I wish it were not so. And on thinking about your statement @Shirley Martin , you may be absolutely right.