The United States government pigeon holes all human beings into five racial categories[0]. All of Eurasia is White, including the Middle East and India. I imagine this is policy driven but haven’t speculated much. It’s an oddity that seems to percolate culturally as well.
For what it's worth, my aim was to disavow anyone from claiming that they are "color-blind" even when they have good intentions. I should demand of myself to grant the same level of respect and courtesy to anyone else regardless of their race.
The reasoning there is due to the fact that, in the US at least, race is often tied to identity, in terms of background, culture, and even experience in daily life.
Ultimately, as I eluded to, we should all try to be better people first and foremost. I'm not saying that calling out and standing up to injustice is not important. But we each have the potential to control our own actions much more so than to control anyone else's.
For what it's worth, my aim was to disavow anyone from claiming that they are "color-blind" even when they have good intentions. I should demand of myself to grant the same level of respect and courtesy to anyone else regardless of their race.
Then what is your definition of color-blindness? What you demand of yourself in that second sentence is pretty much the definition of color-blindness that I was taught, so to me your first and second sentence are in direct opposition: you disavow it in your first sentence, then claim to strive for it in your second.
Oh yes, I'm familiar with the US Census Bureau's definition of "races". They themselves admit that it is a US-specific cultural construct: "The racial categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include racial and national origin or sociocultural groups." [0]
And yet many Americans seem to treat it, not as a cultural construct specific to their own country, but rather as some sort of objective universal fact. The idea of "race" in itself is not specific to the US, of course – but the US seems to be one of the few countries in which it has been elevated into a government-mandated formal categorisation scheme, as opposed to a vague and ambiguous informal concept.
> All of Eurasia is White, including the Middle East and India
Not India. People from "the Indian subcontinent" are classified as "Asian" not "White", with India and Pakistan explicitly called out as "Asian". I believe, that as far as the US government is concerned, the boundary between "White" and "Asian" runs along the Iran-Pakistan and Afghanistan-Pakistan border. So, a Pashtun is "White" if they come from Afghanistan, but "Asian" if they come from Pakistan? It seems utterly ludicrous – and yet, so many Americans seem unable to see just how ludicrous it is.
> I imagine this is policy driven but haven’t speculated much. It’s an oddity that seems to percolate culturally as well.
I don't think it can be explained simply as "policy-driven" or "culture-driven", I think there is a circular feedback loop "culture -> politics -> policy -> culture".
[0]https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/note/US/RHI625219
Not defending OP here, just providing some possible context for their unfortunate choice of words.