A key component to race was the belief that abstract thought was better and higher than realistic thought. ( An idea that comes from Hegel.) Here peoples that are closer to nature are more primitive, and people who think more abstractly are more advanced. This led to African Americans in the U.S. being treated as a 'natural resource' to be exploited. But if you look at African art it is actually very abstract, which disproves this idea.

A second point, the U.S. government has codified into law race as a real thing. Government agencies have been tasked with identifying groups by race and then creating data that tracks various outcomes from home ownership, climate change vulnerability, and other factors. This creates whole systems of knowledge around race. Even if race isn't real, the government treats it as though it is.