off to the races!

i've been wondering something lately about how to be a better white guy. no, i'm serious. but that brings me to my point.

i want nothing more than to see come to life the vision of martin luther king. but does that mean that we will all have to realize the validity of many races, or are we to see no races, only many people? is it better to see 1 color or many colors? if we could all succeed in seeing only 1 color, the "color" of humanity, perhaps that would eliminate racism, because there are no specific races. but that wouldn't necessarily eliminate the potential (likelihood?) of prejudice and bigotry, since the basis for those diseases is more than just race (e.g. class, height, general asthetic desirability, etc.).

but if it's better to see things as they are (i.e. multiple races, skin tones, etc.), than how do we destroy racism (which, of course, is a kind of bigotry)? i don't think, at all, that there is anything inappropriate in embracing our own ethnicity and what that represents in terms of culture and things, but when taken to extremes, this can also lead to conflict.

where is the greater benefit? i know people of various races, ethnicities, and cultures, and i'm always agonizing about how to refer to other people i know who are of the same race (e.g. talking to a black girl, i often don't know if she will be okay with me referring to her or another friend of mine, or some other person, as black). yeah, i know, i'm likely overthinking this, but you can probably tell by now that i overthink anything. comments are welcome.