A thought I'd like to pass along.

[MineralMan]

9. Exactly. Words are our reaction to things.

"Race" is one that can mean different things to different people.

Bottom line is that all human beings can make new human beings with each other, no matter the color of their skins. There is only one race, from that perspective - the human race. However, humans come in a wide range of skin colors. Those differences are quite obvious, in most cases, so humans have a word that indicates that. "Race." What race are you?

How many times are we asked that question when filling out some form or another. What "Race are you?" The word "human" is not one of the choices. To select that you have to mark "Other" and write it in.

So, race is a real thing, in that sense. And racism is real, as well, in the same sense.

All domestic dogs can interbreed. We don't call the different types of dogs different races. We call them different breeds. We don't use the word "breed" with humans very often, although we do say full breed and half breed at times. We don't like to identify humans having different breeds, because we use that word for animals, and we fail to recognize ourselves as animals in many cases. It's stupid, but there it is.

It's complicated, isn't it.