We do live in America, so your actual ethnicity matters, but not as much as what people think you are on first glance (i.e. police, interviewers, etc). Race is

We do live in America, so your actual ethnicity matters, but not as much as what people think you are on first glance (i.e. police, interviewers, etc). Race is something that affects people's lives in the real world, beyond boxes on applications. This argument is becoming a little academic.