Why do people confuse race with colour?

Question

It really annoys me when people refer to 'black' and 'white' as races. There are so many races in the world, some of whom are white, some black, some brown, etc... I am Irish. My race is Irish/Celtic. I am a completely different race from the English, Polish, the French, etc etc, even though we are all 'white'. Similarly there are many different races with dark skin. When people refer to 'racist' crimes they are really talking about 'colourist' crimes - where people attack others because of the colour of their skin. They have no idea what race they are.

To Musio: You have clearly totally misinterpreted my question! I absolutely agree that there is such a thing as racism between people of the same colour skin, I am saying that most people however tend to refer to colour as race, rather than race! This is what annoys me. How on earth have you come to the conclusion that I am racist from this question when I am actually the complete opposite??! I made up the term 'colourist' to describe people who judge people on the colour of their skin (which of course is totally ignorant and disgusting), I am simply stating that people should not refer to colour as 'race'. For goodness' sake, read the question properly before you jump on your high horse. As for being racist, the only one here who has made any racist comment is you.

Answer 1

People like to put others into convenient little boxes, skin colour is a very convenient one! I agree with you. I have a thing about being called "British". I am English..same as people from Scotland are Scottish etc. I have even been known to cross out British on offical forms and put in English! lol
An aging rebel;

Answer 2

1. Where on earth did you get the term " colourist" from?? Streuth!

2. Your whole assertion is simply not true. Black/white is simply one form of race categorisation. If you look at race monitoring forms used by UK local authorities which have a significant Irish community (e.g. London Borough of Brent, London Borough of Islington) you will see that White Irish is given its own category. An Irish person can be the victim of a racist crime (including crime committed by other white aggressors), just as much as anyone else.

3. However, my own personal experience has brought to light two matters: (a) racism is based on ignorance, and (b) racism is far more prevalent amongst Irish than British. Your posting does nothing to make me feel otherwise.

4. ADDITION
(a) Actually, I did read the question well, because I have an interest (and activism) in these matters, and understand them far better than the asker does.
(b) The asker's opening assertion, namely: "It really annoys me when people refer to 'black' and 'white' as races" is a racist statement, since black is a valid race category (African, West African, Nigerian and Yoruba would be valid levels of sub-category). White is also valid.
(c) One common error, by people who don't appreciate their own racism, is to misspell or mispronouce other people's names. It doesn't surprise me that the asker has misspelt my Venezuelan origin nickname (it's musiu not musio).
(d) The asker does not keep her knowledge up to date, or she would know about recent developments in DNA profiling of people. It is now known that the English have a lot of Celtic heritage, and that it has been proven an historical fallacy the idea that the Anglo-Saxons drove the Celts north and west out of England. They inter-married. So the statement that, being Irish, she belongs to a "completely different race from the English" is tenuous. If she had her own DNA tested, it is extremely unlikely that this would result in a 100% pure Irish Celtic profile
(d) I'm afraid the asker is ignorant and racist - she just doesn't realise it.