I grew up as a white kid in a good middle class family in the UK. I still got bullied by (white) kids at schools. The idea that all bullying is race related seems nonsense to me. Maybe it's different in the US.
Bullies typically choose a kid that somehow differs from the rest of the group. How specifically that kid differs, that depends on the specific group. In some groups, it will be the kid of a different race, in other groups in will be the nerdy kid. If there are multiple candidates, the bullies will probably choose the "safest" one, that is the one with smallest risk that someone will intervene and punish them.
The culture can have an effect on evaluation of the "safest" victim. If everyone knows that no one important will care about a black kid being bullied... And in a different town, maybe everyone knows that no one important will care about a kid from a poor family.
I agree. The bullies bully those who are can be portrayed as different. Can be redheads, size, a cleft lip, or even - as in my school - the girl who's parents had plastic flowers in the back yard.
I don't think bullies usually care about race or power, they just want to be respected by their peers - using a distorted definition of respect.
Of course there's also a group that are just psychopaths, but I don't think they care about race either. For them it's just a means to an end.
And finally, yes, racists do exist, I personally think that's passed down from adults.
