That race is an illusion, at best a quaint fiction and at worst a vicious lie.
"Race"
–noun
1. a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.
2. a population so related.
3. Anthropology.
a. any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negro, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use.
b. an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.
c. a human population partially isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans.
4. a group of tribes or peoples forming an ethnic stock: the Slavic race.
5. any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race.
I agree with you that while racism still exists pretending that it doesn't is silly. It exists much in the way that breeds of animals are told apart. If I describe 2 dogs I wouldn't list their attributes, but rather their breed name. Granted there are far more "races" of dogs, but the ideas are similar.
I think that people making a big deal out of it existing is like protecting everyone by being politically incorrect. Toughen up and deal with the fact that everyone is different and that isn't a bad thing in and of itself.