When you demonize people that don't look or think like you, there's a safety in the "known" evil.
Soon, you don't see people from other races as people but you see the humanity in the evils perpetrated by people who do look like you.
Do that with the social media bubbles you have now that constantly reinforce these biases and we have the shitty fucking situation where rich people leverage to get themselves elected. Soon they're going to remove the voting entirely.