I don't think that the racism or sexism has changed all that much from the early days. I suppose it was a friendlier place VERY early on, but for most of the history of the board, there's been plenty of objectionable content. Frankly, it's never bothered me much, and I'm surprised that it bothers other people. It's one thing to have to interact with racist people in a real world social situation, where they have the power to make an enlightened discourse difficult or impossible, but on the Internet it's easy to just ignore the racists and continue a discussion with the people who matter.
Also, I think it's actually valuable to see the racism and sexism on the board, because most of the people posting would probably never express those sentiments in the real world. Reading their anonymous postings reminds you that just because people may not say certain things in your daily experience doesn't mean they aren't thinking them.