I used to hold some questionable views as well, because I used to be an edgy teenager, and the whole internet culture is pretty messed up, to say the least, as you venture into the darker and secluded corners. However, things change, and identifying and calling out these things is essential.

The issue is, racism is like a baby Pokémon. It evolves with time, with newer crop of users and events that happen around us (like colonialisation et al). So the neocolonial and socio-economic status parts you say are not the elements themselves, but the end product manifestation of what starts as these expresssions that travel through various medium in society, normalising racism in the first place, planting the seeds in society to make way for the governance to assume that if the masses are okay with it, this must be the culture and the governments and giant entities adapt to it.

Bad words or weird hand or object expressions is simply a way to modify the grammar that the society uses daily, and develop behavioural cues with them. This is a crucial part of Theory of Computation, for example in Computer Science, which teaches how new grammar can be created.

Racism also happens to be a way to start wars, as example, by manufacturing consent which we see commonly. That is done if the masses are allowed and encouraged to do this.

Education and awareness can only go so far. If the other party is unwilling to have a dialogue, and doubles down on their doings that they think is done out of “free will” in a “free society”, then how will education work? The only theoretical options left are to be civil and oppose, or be uncivil and oppose.