I always find it odd when any of the shows acknowledge the present racial descriptors, especially since none of the other species seem to use them (e.g., Tuvok is never described as a Black Vulcan, or KIra a white Bajoran).
I know it's kind of a joke to talk about a post-racial society nowadays, but I've always like the notion that 300 years in the future those distinctions may have fallen away along with stuff like religion and capitalism. It's part of the reason I never liked the idea that Chakotay's people are presented as a faction of humanity that's separate and distinct from humanity, since it implies that those distinctions still exist to some extent among Earth.
But Capitalism ( mainly Feringi, but other species as well) and religion ( Bajoran as an example) are still around in trek,
Now I will say that racial descriptors need to go into the dustbin of history.. We're all human, the end.
There's always going to be "factions" of humanity, and even other species, Northern Romulans, Southern Romulans,
As for Chakotay' its an anology of the native americans, and there place, and not being accepted, so they run away.
That doesn't have to be just them, There may be an Amish planet, or Mormon planet, or a planet that was colonized early on by a ship full of scottish people, so New Aberdeen if full of scottish people, and they follow the old traditions.
Your not going to get a complete "melding" of people, because they are still going to grow up in different regions of planets, deserts, highlands etc.
Even say, thousands of years in the future with the federation, you'll have individual planets and there traditions, culture etc. Yes there federation members, but there still Unique. and will be.. well forever. Even now with 8 Billion humans, we're all unique/different. The Mono Culture as represented in Trek is a complete myth.
