offmychest

It's just ignorance. Yes it sounds hateful because we understand the pain this type of thinking has caused throughout history. They don't. They don't understand other perspectives, and in their minds they are the embodiment of America, so any other perspectives are "the others". Trying to give them a history lesson, or engaging them on any sort of intellectual level is likely to push them away, they'll feel like you think you're smarter than them, and you're belittling them. What they really need is to spend some time with people of other ethnicities. The Army was absolutely fantastic exposure for me and a lot of my Army brothers. We all entered Basic Training as ignorant little boys who thought we understood things, and left as men with an actual understanding of other people's lives. Sharing hardship with people who aren't like you is such an amazing opportunity for personal growth. Of course this isn't really something you can offer them, so unfortunately I don't have any answers for you. A lot of times these types of people will stay locked into this mindset unless something happens that forces them out of it. The best I can say is to try to remember that it's probably not actually hate, and try to educate them little by little, sharing diverse perspectives with them.