I am positive that Julian Bond said that race is a construct and framed that conversation about how, despite that, racism has real effects.

That is the very point of this entire essay. Which you probably don’t have an opinion on because you didn’t actually read it.

What I’m criticizing with this piece is how people say race is a construct like it’s the end of a conversation instead of the beginning.

I’ve said this multiple times so far in the comments. If you want to say your piece and contribute to the conversation you owe it to the other people in the room to be paying attention to what’s already been said. When you don’t you’re in limiting the scope of the conversation by centering yourself.