"play the race card" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays the race card",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing the race card",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the race card",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the race card",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "play the race card"
      },
      "expansion": "play the race card (third-person singular simple present plays the race card, present participle playing the race card, simple past and past participle played the race card)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Racism",
          "orig": "en:Racism",
          "parents": [
            "Forms of discrimination",
            "Discrimination",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "play the gender card"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Mark Fuhrman, Murder in Brentwood, page 153",
          "text": "The defense played the race card, but Ito let them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Donald A. Carson, Love in Hard Places, page 94",
          "text": "Moreover, some leaders on both sides of any racial divide love to play the race card to keep themselves in power.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015 May 15, Tatsuya Ishida, “Black Lives 3”, in Sinfest",
          "text": "White man: White privilege? Now you're just playing the race card.\nClio: No. I'm not \"playing the race card\". Because racism isn't a card game to me. It can get me killed or jailed... threaten my livelihood. I don't have the privilege to treat it like a game.\nWhite man: Oooo well played!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To assert that race or racism is involved in a situation, especially in order to exploit racist or antiracist attitudes."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_the_race_card-en-verb-Hrq5Xsia",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "race",
          "race"
        ],
        [
          "racism",
          "racism"
        ],
        [
          "exploit",
          "exploit"
        ],
        [
          "racist",
          "racist"
        ],
        [
          "antiracist",
          "antiracist"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often derogatory) To assert that race or racism is involved in a situation, especially in order to exploit racist or antiracist attitudes."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "idiomatic",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play the race card.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cd/En-au-play_the_race_card.ogg/En-au-play_the_race_card.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/En-au-play_the_race_card.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play the race card"
}

{
  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "word": "play the gender card"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays the race card",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing the race card",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the race card",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the race card",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "play the race card"
      },
      "expansion": "play the race card (third-person singular simple present plays the race card, present participle playing the race card, simple past and past participle played the race card)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "en:Racism"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Mark Fuhrman, Murder in Brentwood, page 153",
          "text": "The defense played the race card, but Ito let them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Donald A. Carson, Love in Hard Places, page 94",
          "text": "Moreover, some leaders on both sides of any racial divide love to play the race card to keep themselves in power.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015 May 15, Tatsuya Ishida, “Black Lives 3”, in Sinfest",
          "text": "White man: White privilege? Now you're just playing the race card.\nClio: No. I'm not \"playing the race card\". Because racism isn't a card game to me. It can get me killed or jailed... threaten my livelihood. I don't have the privilege to treat it like a game.\nWhite man: Oooo well played!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To assert that race or racism is involved in a situation, especially in order to exploit racist or antiracist attitudes."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "race",
          "race"
        ],
        [
          "racism",
          "racism"
        ],
        [
          "exploit",
          "exploit"
        ],
        [
          "racist",
          "racist"
        ],
        [
          "antiracist",
          "antiracist"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often derogatory) To assert that race or racism is involved in a situation, especially in order to exploit racist or antiracist attitudes."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "idiomatic",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play the race card.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cd/En-au-play_the_race_card.ogg/En-au-play_the_race_card.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/En-au-play_the_race_card.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play the race card"
}