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You raise good points. Having grown up as a minority in a town and area as you describe I know how important it is to have discussions about race and colour with our little ones. We are very much a multicultural family; who've lived overseas and amongst different types of people.
A few things we do-

Something is better than nothing. Yes it can lead to or be tokenism but you have to start from somewhere. We then learn, grow and adapt.
We pay attention to festivals. Pointing out festivals of other faiths and races.
We discuss differences. We have differences and not talking about them may give the impression we're not allowed to talk about it at all.
We try not to be vague, all the time. It's a struggle and we don't always succeed.
We challenge- things we see in life and on the tv etc. We're trying to raise thinkers and ones that question.

School is a place that often bugs me. Diversity should be throughout the curriculum. Some schools do this really well and others neglect or sideline it. Especially in schools like yours ( and mine) not much if anything is talked about even if there are a few children of colour dotted around the school. Not until an issue arises.
I've found two sources recently that have helped me grow in confidence : Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman . Brilliant book to make you think. In particular the chapter: Why white parents don't talk about race.

I interviewed Karen Nemeth about ways in for the under 5s when introducing Cultural diversity. Show #49 and #66 at Raising Playful Tots.
Enjoyed your post :)