I think an important distinction here is that just because race is a social construct doesn't mean that it isn't real. Clearly it is, and has profoundly negative impact on people. We can't make race not real by not talking about it. All that does is ignore the problem.

Do we want to get to a place where race isn't real anymore, where skin color is no more meaningful than handedness or some other neutral physical feature? Sure. But we can't just magic ourselves there. That's going to take a lot of work, and a lot of conscious, focused work that will only happen if we keep talking about it.