> We may tend to prefer in-groups as humans, but there's no reason why one's "in-group" should be defined by race.
I agree! There’s no reason in-groups should be defined by race...but, at least in the United States, it was quite literally legislated in law for centuries and formed the basis of a slave state and then segregation. So it seems like race has historically been one way we define in-groups and out-groups. Based on current events, I’d argue race is still pretty important to a lot of people. Otherwise our politics wouldn’t be...whatever you want to call them.
> Indeed the whole notion of 'race' itself is largely artificial, historically- and locally-contingent, and thus so is racism.
Race is socially constructed but it’s definitely real. Racism is also real.
