As a person of color myself, it both amuses and grates me how the current crop of intellectuals blather that “Race is a social construct!” one moment, while at the same time, doctors and other medical outlets — though, perhaps, not realizing they’re doing it — tacitly acknowledge genetic differences between white and black peoples’ bone structure, susceptibility to certain diseases, and so on.
That, and even if they didn’t have a label for it and weren’t as fixated on it as Modern “scientific racists”, it goes without saying that the Ancients could easily see the same physical distinctions we do. Between Germans from the North, Canaanites from the East, and other peoples they’ve interacted with, it’s evident each of them had differing complexions, bodily proportions, and other physical traits that set them apart beyond just clothing or culture.
Biggest problem, I think, is that “certain people” take it to mean that discrimination or mistreatment based on race is therefore A-okay — as many bad actors across the centuries have a history of doing, time and time again. Hopefully, we’ll have some honest study of the issue after the woes of our age have passed, without bad actors to muck it up this time.