Racism in the Library?

There was a recent notification e-mailed through our district regarding bookmarks promoting neo-Nazi racism hidden in our stacks. Books on the topics of race and culture were apparently targeted by persons unknown to promote religious white nationalism.

I simply cannot understand such a worldview. I may be in the rural inland northwest where the vast majority of the population is white, but still, I know people of African, Central American, Asian, and Native ancestry. There are certainly cultural differences, but there are numerous different national traditions and subcultures even within the white population. Asserting that skin color defines humanity and intellectual capacity is patently absurd based on my own experience and observation.

I'd prefer to not grant any publicity to this particular group of idiots, but I will say it's a new one to me. The KKK and Aryan Nations seem to have a couple holdouts who occasionally make themselves known through leaflet campaigns, but it wasn't them this time. It's also strange to me now each of these small incidents is used by the mainstream media to smear rural America as some kind of hotbed of racism.

How can we address these issues rationally? Education is only effective if people are open to learning. Shaming in the media doesn't seem to work, especially when the media has done little but discredit itself through yellow journalism over the past several decades. False accusations of racism dilute the impact real incidents should warrant, but even a cursory glance at social media shows the label of "racist" applied recklessly. How do you reason with people who have clearly abandoned reason for prejudice? I have no answers, but I welcome discussion.