There IS a happy middle ground between textual purists and interpretives. Racial Personality Traits as Cultural Norms, not inherent but learned. A human raised by elves is going to act like an elf right? Nothing's inherent. So in mixed societies the cultural norms fall away.

It's important tho that the Cultural Norms are not judgement calls. If we take Orcs for example as we're doing now: headstrong, clan-focused, opportunistic. These are not negative traits unless you want them to be. The racist language in the original text can be reinterpreted.

So let's say you have a character who is a gnome but was raised by orcs. Congratulations, you have an interesting cultural context concept. But if you have an orc who grew up in say, Waterdeep, Cultural Norms blend and become less static than in clan life, or village life.

When I played a Lawful Evil Fire Genasi this was something we took seriously: He wasn't evil because it was inherent. It wasn't a trait that defined Fire Genasi. It was a representation of the standards of the social circle of the City of Brass that he was from.

Also worth reminding in this thread that in D&D Evil vs Good re: alignments is tricky because it can be defined as putting Self first vs putting Others first. A good way to avoid the judgement call aspect.