Is there a word for a person that does not identify with any race?

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Sure. It’s “mixed.” That means you have family of all races.

But race isn’t something you can choose to identify with or not. It’s something other people tell you that you are or aren’t. That’s what makes it so pernicious.

It saddens me to see black culture. Not because I dislike black culture or because I feel excluded or whatever. Black people do a great job of integrating their culture into the rest of America, while reserving the best parts for themselves.

But because of its necessity. Black people are not allowed to be full participants in “white” American culture, so they had to go make their own. All ethnic cultures arise out of ethnicities. Ethnicities arise out of separation. The word we have for that is segregation. Oh sure, segregation in certain public institutions supposedly ended in the 60s. But of course that didn’t just make us all equals.

I don’t know if you’re black, white, mixed, or even if you live in America or not. It doesn’t really matter. Racism affects all of us. It’s also bigger than all of us. In America, you don’t get to choose that you’re not privileged if you’re white. Society chose that for you. You don’t get to choose to not be oppressed if you’re black. Society chose that for you. Race isn’t a matter of identity. You can choose your identity. Race is a consequence of the circumstances you were born in. You can’t choose those.

The real nastiness of race is that there are words out there to describe people who run from their birth circumstances. And they’re all negative. The words conjure up a sense of you having forsaken your brothers. They needed you, and you abandoned them.

Race isn’t an individual identity. It’s a social one. You don’t get to be above it.