There are many ideologies in the United States that have a major influence on what race you identify with. Depending on what race you are, your social, political, and economic ways of life can be effected.
An ideology that contributed to race would have to be hate towards others who are different than you. I think physical appearance was not the biggest factor. The major factors have been greed and jealousy. Racial discrimination is used as a justification to take advantage of the weaker, less powerful ethnic groups. It's easier to justify inhumanity towards others if the ethnic group is regarded as "inferior"." Slavery in the Americas, is where we first see African slaves imported to Latin America largely concentrated in the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic/Haiti, and Puerto Rico). The indigenous population on those islands were wiped out 100%, full blown genocide. The only evidence we have to trace to the caribbean culture before the genocide is tobacco. Now that the population was decimated, people were going to Africa and thats when we have the beginning of transatlantic slave trade to replace the indigenous population. They worked on plantations. The house slaves where they slept was similar to the size of a telephone booth. The slave owners had complete control over the future of each slave. The goal in slavery is to maximize profit. The institution of slavery was oppressive and abusive, Women were susceptible to abuse by their master. Then since the masters' wives were jealous, then they abused the slave. The worst part was that it was dehumanizing. There was no where to relax or lay down. It was continuous work. There was malnutrition and dehydration. The fact that slavery existed in America and was a huge part of our history and singlehandedly contributed to our racism today.
Racism has all to do with race. Race is a factor in determining how many obstacles to success you will face.