How do you turn a racist person into a non-racist?

I think it was in the nineties that a talk show brought racists onto their show to get their point of view and to try to change their minds. One of them was a white guy who was racist toward black people, one was a black guy who didn't like Arabs, there might have been another but I don't remember.

The white guy was an idiot. They had him go to the home of a black family to try to get to know them I guess. He started pointing out the colors of various things i.e "I see your plates are black." I don't think that there was any real interest on his part in changing.

The other guy on the show, he seemed to be more reasonable. His views seemed to be based on the Arabs in the area he lived in. He complained that the stores they own are dirty, I'm sure there were other complaints. His meet and greet went better and he agreed to at least give the people he was prejudiced against another look.

Basically, get them to see past the stereotypes and media portrayals long enough to see the real people who are part of that group. The ones who are willing to go that far have a chance.

/r/AskReddit Thread