During the American War of Independence large numbers of Americans (Native, black and white) fought on the British side. Does that mean there was no American War of Independence? No, of course not. We choose to look at the bigger historical picture.
In the beginning of the Civil War a group of New Orleans creoles formed a home guard unit that was briefly part of the Confederate Louisiana State Militia. Does that mean there was no slavery/racial element to the Civil War? Only if we choose not to look at the bigger picture.
When the southern legislatures voted to secede they explicitly said it was in defence of slavery and the domination of the "superior" white race.
The slavers had not just wanted to be left in peace. In the years prior to the war the southern states had repeatedly tried to force the rest of the country to support slavery. Censorship of the mail, deprivations of freedom of speech, fugative slave laws, etc.
Was there racism in the north? Of course. History is complicated. But saying slavery/race had nothing to do with the Civil War is like saying Hitler and Nazism had nothing to with World War Two.
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