It seems to me that the use of this word facilitates the formation of ideas like "mixed-race couple" or "people of other races" which are not as easy to express in my language. It creates a (further) mental separation between groups of people by giving an official way of categorizing them which would be harder if there were no generic word for it. I'm not saying making the word disappear would make the problem of racism disappear, but I really think the frequent use of this word increases psychological walls between communities.

Finally, there is no scientific basis for saying Obama is of the "African American" race because he is as "Caucasian" as he is the former, which shows that what it really conveys is more than harmless classification for statistical purposes.