I take it from your spellings, Steve ("jewellery"; etc.) that you live in some Commonwealth country. I grew up in the USA, mostly in the south, and I've met hundreds of people who wore their racism with pride. We've had this conversation before; while I don't say that reaching people is hopeless I am a lot more pessimistic about it than you are. Your patience will bring you greater success than I have had, though my efforts have been more in trying to get gay men to stop the confrontational belligerence toward heterosexuals.

And yes, actually seeing that I changed someone's mind is more rewarding than anything.

Of course I understand about raising defensiveness. I have some insights into that I will never tell a living soul.