<p>"I don’t think the OP was 'exploiting 'the history of blacks in the US, he was asking a very reasonable question that anyone would have asked. "</p>
<p>Maybe OP was’t intending to “exploit” anyone or anything, but since everyone knows being urm is a hook and likewise everyone knows that at least one purpose of the question is to identify urm students, a White student’s attempt to try and legitimately check the African-American box is disingenuous.</p>
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<p>“I think culture is more important than pigmentation, and that race is basically a social construct and shouldn’t work in my favour or against it.”</p>
<p>Of course race is less important to members of the racially dominant/majority/normative group!! And while race may be a social construct, so is culture; in fact, what is a civilized society if not a collection of agreed-upon social constructs and social contracts?</p>