“We are all racists.”

That’s the contention of Dr. Allen Lewis, a Henrico County resident and James Madison University professor.

It’s also the provocative name of a book he has written with the subtitle, “The Truth About Cultural Bias.”

In the 2014 book, Dr. Lewis says whether one is African-American, Caucasian, Latino, Asian, Native-American or of another ethnicity, we all harbor racial prejudices, whether they are conscious or subconscious.

And he says those prejudices likely will exist in mankind until the end of time.

“Perhaps it’s time to face the truth that race and cultural differences may always be the defining prisms through which we all experience our respective realities,” Dr. Lewis, the head of JMU’s Department of Health Sciences, writes in the preface to his book.

“Human beings, like other animal species, seem particularly inclined to prefer their own kind in terms of cultural characteristics,” he says.

Dr. Lewis has more than 30 years of experience as a clinician, administrator and educator and has been on the faculty of four universities, including Virginia Commonwealth University, where he served as chair of the Department of Rehabilitative Counseling.

In an interview with the Free Press, Dr. Lewis, 54, said, “It’s not an indictment” that people of different ethnicities mostly have friends that look like them and think like them.

“We all have our biases,” he said. “We tend to gravitate to people like us. We’re creatures of habit, unless we make a conscious effort to step outside our comfort zone.”

He adds, “I don’t think it’s ever going to change. Race and cultural differences are always going to be an issue.”

He said two key factors led him to that conclusion.

First, he said, is “our history,” noting that black people were enslaved for hundreds of years in this country.

Secondly, he said, “race and ethnicity are very visible” parts of society. “Everybody can make a judgment on that.”

Dr. Lewis said he decided to write the book after George Zimmerman was acquitted in July 2013 of second degree murder after he shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.

“The nation’s polarized reaction to the verdict makes it clear that race is still a defining factor for Americans in the 21st century,” Dr. Lewis wrote.

Due to prejudices, Dr. Lewis said throughout the country’s post-Civil War history, every time African-Americans begin to make civil rights gains, some white Americans feel threatened and attempt to tighten the clamps on those rights.

He says the latest efforts to turn back the clock began with President Obama’s election.

“All presidents have their naysayers, but the time spent to thwart Mr. Obama has been unparalleled,” Dr. Lewis wrote.

“He’s just one example of a broader sentiment represented by a subgroup of Americans that perceive the country is going to hell in a handbasket because of African-Americans,” he told the Free Press.

Dr. Lewis said efforts by Republicans and others to halt the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and to pass new laws designed to make it more difficult for African-Americans and other minorities to vote and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate a key part of the Voting Rights Act illustrate his point.

In his book, Dr. Lewis also addresses the black community and how he believes it should confront issues such as lower life expectancy, poverty, homelessness, unemployment, disparate educational achievement, pregnancy rates, health and incarceration.

“The black community needs macro level psychological healing,” he wrote. “I believe that psychological healing will naturally occur when the black community begins, through empowerment and self-determination, to take steps to improve its own condition,” he wrote.

He said his ultimate solution is a four-pronged proposal of fixes.

“The first strategy,” he said, “is to maximize education levels throughout the black community,” encouraging each member of the black community to “acquire the optimal level of formal training needed to reach the top of their chosen profession.”

He also called for more education on black history and financial matters and said the black community must look inward sometimes rather than labeling things as racist.

Second, he said young people should be taught about entrepreneurship and that black people must support black-owned businesses, the black press and other black institutions.

“Sometimes, supporting black-owned businesses requires some sacrifices,” he wrote. “Often, the merchandise is more expensive because black businesses do not have the inroads to the best wholesalers or suppliers.”

Third, in an idea he acknowledged would be controversial to some, he expressed his belief that black people should marry other black people, not “for racial purity,” but to make a concerted effort “to begin to keep dollars generated by black families in the black community.”

Black people also ought to move back into cities from the suburbs or remain in the cities if they’re thinking of leaving “to take back the cities and have a positive presence,” he said.

Lastly, he proposes the “1-300 Plan.” In it, the top 1 percent of the most affluent black people in the nation would donate 1 percent of their gross annual income, or at least $8,000 apiece, to reach a total of $3.12 billion.

“This money would be allocated to the top 300 cities in the United States,” he said. Split up, that would break down to about $10.4 million per city, he said. The money would be put aside in a black education/training and entrepreneurship fund, he said.