Racialized theories of civilization are, on face value, absurd (and, well, racist). GGS goes to significant lengths to debunk them, including thoroughly collapsing the racial categories that colonial and post-colonial Westerners use.
Humans are tribal to the core of our being.
Race matters, culturally, genetically, and is how we typically organized throughout history and even today.
The Irish, French, and British are pretty similar racially but divide pretty significantly on the tiny differences in that race.
To cast aside race as an arbitrary characteristic seems inaccurate view of reality.
Race is one of the most important attributes that makes us human.