Why do you desire to be the lesser person when you are a better
person with empathy?
Empathy is a sign of strength and not a weakness. You cannot
pretend to have real empathy or deny empathy without feeling
guilty. It's inborn within us and we're borned with it...like a
part of our character.
If you just want them to stop stepping on you, then it's up to you
to prevent yourself from being stepped upon by others. You see, if
you've always placed and believed that you yourself are somewhat
lower/unworthy than other people around you, then it's your own
fault that you allowed yourself to be
humiliated/insulted/bullied.
I would encourage you to always look up on yourself and always
place yourself in the highest/higher position than the people who
have always tried to see-you-no-up. We all have our own parents, so
there is absolutely no reason why he or his heritage is somehow
more noble than yours and his parents owned your parents.
Avoid contact with that friend of yours if his existence to your
social circle is a repeating grieve in your heart and mind.
If you really want that guy friend of yours to stop his mouth, why
don't you just give him a quick but light slap/punch to his
chee.bye mouth whenever he intentionally insult/humiliate/bullies
you? If he fights back, then you don't need to worry about empathy
anymore cos it won't be about empathy if you don't return
slap/punch, you have successfully escalated the situation into a
survival match. And it's much easier to convince him with your
actions than your mouth isn't it? 
Always place peace before war and it's not considered as a loser if
you run away from a confrontation. Real winners are not bothered by
other people's judgementation on himself, cos real winners in life
feels like they are always winning in everything that they do in
their lives.
Be a winner, and ditch the losers and resign from living in other
people's world which you have considered it to be your own life and
start living your own life.
