If you think that thinking in terms of race is new, then you are sadly mistaken. Racism has been a blight on the American soul from the beginning. For an interesting perspective of race in America from before the Civil War, see Chief Justice Taney's opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857) -- and Taney is arguing that "They had for more than a century been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect".

 Racism is still very much with us. Saying "we should just ignore it" is wholly unrealistic. And sneering, as you do, at those who would struggle against it is contemptible.