Hope you read some of the replies. Race is a social category that is a critical tool in interpreting the shape of the world as we know it, it's not a reality. Racial analysis can uncover serious problems in public policy and in understanding the maldistribution of resources. In that way, it can be understood as a close cousin to colonialism.

In a broader sense, race as a paradigm for interpreting everyday interactions between people is a convenient shorthand for understanding cultural and socioeconomic dynamics. But once again, race is a method of interpretation -- it's at its fullest an epiphenomenon, but primarily a mode for understanding various phenomena. In this context and the previous context, though, it's often the simplest way to understand Western social phenomena, but the least likely to yield solutions to social issues and problems that don't lead to further social stratification and estrangement, at least without being coupled with other analyses.

That's my take -- black people who reify race find ourselves in a philosophical and real-life cul-de-sac.