Interesting argument but I don't know if you want to use the term "racist" so much as stereotyping. EVERYONE does stereotype to a certain degree with regards things period. We're human. No one is perfect and a lot of where conflict comes in is where one person differs from another. That being said, people try to surround themselves with the familiar (well at least ohioians do) and by doing so make stark differences between the "us" and "them". By creating that line, we start that stereotyping process. Varying degrees of stereotypes lead to racism and everything else that follows, but the better person knows when to take that stereotype they COULD use and ignore it as best they can and just take the person as the individual they are.
That at least is where I see product vs environment coming into play and ways to get around/rid of it.