Sorry, Eliza, didn't have time to answer your posting.
"And I admire you for not going along with any of it"
Nothing to admire, my life would have been pretty uncomfortable if I had gone home spouting racism, my family, particularly my father, was pretty firm on the subject.
"...that we as a nation haven't changed at all, and haven't learned to be more tolerant and kind?"
I think it comes and goes. Most racism, as I have encountered it, is passive, the suspicion and sometimes fear of anybody different. It is only at the times of social pressure (high unemployment being a major feature) that it becomes a material threat. The East London dockers support for Enoch Powell is, IMO, a classic example of this.
I believe that in Britain passive racism is the result of unfamiliarity and ignorance coupled with our 'Rule Brittania' Empire legacy, which has left us with a national superiority complex.   
The main problem is that there are always militant groups with political agendas waiting in the wings to exploit these 'eccentricities', BNP being the most influential, but plenty of others lurking out there.
Jim Caroll