People have an "unnatural obsession with race" because they want to fix race issues they believe exist in our society. It is not really difficult to understand.
When you empathize with him and understand that he comes from a different background you can begin to understand why he expresses difficulty in understanding.
I am brown, i never really hear race discussed much in my social circles in a comedic theme, not a racism theme.
There's another data point.
My poiny is that people are diverse, have different perspectives, and having an open mind facilitates dialogue