I mean, perhaps we should ask the people who enslaved black people, or redlined districts specifically and solely for white anglo-saxon protestants, or segregated schools, or destroyed prosperous black communities—perhaps we should ask them about introducing race into the mix. The reason for policies dedicated to underrepresented minorities is that they were underrepresented for very clear, very egregious reasons.
I'm not a huge fan of the "not introducing race" argument because it purports that the person who is attempting to correct the historical disenfranchisement is somehow the first person to bring race up. When in reality the emphasis on not noticing race is a recent phenomenon.
If the goal is an equal playing field, yes. There are significantly more barriers to entry in America for a poor black person than an equally poor white person. Housing, education (especially that which is immediately tied to where you live), employment, and policing all feature systematic and cultural discrimination that have a measurable effect on outcomes.
I'm not a huge fan of the "not introducing race" argument because it purports that the person who is attempting to correct the historical disenfranchisement is somehow the first person to bring race up. When in reality the emphasis on not noticing race is a recent phenomenon.