a more or less rational rant

I was listening and reading to the lyrics of the song Cortez the Killer by Neil Young, and after some time thinking, I found myself getting frustrated. Most of the time, just thinking helps me feel better. This is what I wrote afterwards (it kind of sounds like I'm talking to myself, which I am, in my mind):

For some reason I can't help but be offended when I read things about the conquering of Central and South America. I don't know if offended is the right word though. I begin by watching or reading something out of interest. Guns, Germs, and Steel is an example. I started watching it, and found as it went on, I started feeling bad. That's the closest word I have to describe it, an ill feeling, like "how could this happen?" And they explained how it happened, how Europeans came to conquer the Americas and Africa. But I still felt ill about it. I felt as if an injustice had been done against me. And I don't know why I felt, and still feel, that. I mean, I'm centuries separated from the peoples who were conquered. I'm living in American society, surrounded by American culture. I haven't been wronged in any way, not any time recently that is. I have had racism directed towards me before many times, but how does that connect with the distant past? Is it just some irrational feeling that I should put away? Well technically, all feelings are irrational. I would ask if I should feel ill or angry, but I can't answer that without getting into the ethical arena. Nihilism would say it doesn't matter, since nothing matters. Utilitarianism would say I should feel whatever would get me to be a positive contributor to the maximum amount of sentient beings. So would feeling bad or ill help me contribute at all? Only if you can redirect those feelings towards some positive actions. Something like helping out other minorities comes to mind. I've answered what I can do with those feelings, but I still don't know why I feel that way. Could it be because you see a connection between the racism you felt directed against you and the actions of the conquistadors against native peoples? Maybe this is a reason, but what is that connection? The skin color of the aggressors is one similarity. Other than that, I can't think of anything else. The skin color of the oppressed. It's the same. Is that to say that the racism is still going on today? Racism is still going on today, there's no doubt about that, but I'm not sure if I would call it the SAME racism. Racism is racism though. Like you've read in books, whether it be overt or implicit, racism is racism. Could it be that the racism of the past has continued on to the present? No doubt. I don't know if to the same degree, since a lot of it is hidden today. So the answer was simple all along, I get angry because I hate racism. ??? (still a bit puzzled, I don't know if I've gotten to the bottom of this, I'll have to think more on it)