Come Oh Ye Rational Thinkers...and explain race theory to me

[tantric]

aren't certain races supposed to be more prone to certain illnesses, and I think I heard people of east asian decent are more sensitive to alcohol aswell?

There are gene lines, yes, and the East Asian Blush is true, but they don't track with 'races' at all. And, generally, they are mixed and mixed again, so that it'd be impossible to make neat categories.

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I'm not white. I'm more of a tasteful beige.
If pressed, I will self identify as African-American though my ancestors took a
fifty thousand year break in their passage to the New World to hang out in
northern Europe.

Race is a leftover cultural concept from the age of expansion of the English/French/Spanish/Dutch/Portugese used to rationalize the subjugation of pretty much everyone they met outside Europe. Other folks, like the Japanese, had similar xenophobic concepts, but were less effective in implementing their empires.

Some current populations would like to keep the old usage, but accumulated knowledge of biology and culture has undermined its justifications.
Others use it as a rhetorical strategy by which they can trump disagreement or stifle discussion.

Back in the 80's during my first trip to cali, I was talking to this black guy, who said, "Yeah, I'm pretty buff" - I looked at him and said "you're really more mocha"

(buff=muscular)