Racism - what's the big deal?

(Please move this thread if there's somewhere more appropriate for it).

I keep hearing stories in the news, or in real life, about these over-the-top reactions to racism. The UN hosts an endless string of conferences and committee meetings about racism and its scientific-sounding synonym, xenophobia. Colleges subject students to a litany of stern and humorless exercises in "diversity training", some going so far as to warrant legal intervention (I recall hearing about one racial sensitivity training session in which the host subjects whites to extreme verbal and emotional abuse just so they "know what it feels like"). Most of Europe has outlawed even the expression of racist thoughts.

Seems to me like the fuss is out of proportion to the nature of the problem. Yes, racism is nasty and mean-spirited and irrational and sometimes results in violence and injury -- but so does school bullying, which no one talks about. How is racism such a problem that it justifies any and all efforts, no matter how Orwellian and unpleasant, to stamp it out?

I bring this up chiefly because too many immigration debates end with one party refusing to talk to the other on the basis that he's a racist. No society can survive by refusing to talk about its problems. (Of course, I suspect this is what many of those race-baiters want).