See, I guess that's my point. Races are thin mechanically. The difference is negligible. Class and Background are both going to make far more difference to a character than the mechanics of a race. Now, the flavor of a race? That makes huge differences. People play their dragonborn or half-elf or dwarf or human differently. Not because one has a slightly higher stealth score than another but because virtually all the markers for race (or species, I guess we should be saying now) are based in flavor, not mechanics.
This is a legacy element that just hasn't really faded completely. In earlier editions, it made an enormous difference what race you chose for your character. It limited your maximum levels in a class, limited your stats (in a game where stats were very difficult to change), impacted what classes you could choose, and even allowed things like multiclassing.
Race used to have mechanical impact. But, now? The mechanical differences between any of the races is so slight that they might as well all be "featureless gray blobs". I mean, you mention having a cantrip. But, which cantrip defines you as a half-elf? Or an elf for that matter? Does taking Druidcraft make me more "elfy" than Poison Spray? Maybe Spare the Dying?
See, that's the point I keep trying to make here. Virtually none of the mechanics actually define the race. There are a few - dragon breath for dragon born, hellish rebuke for tieflings, I'd argue that dwarves having a speed of 25 but not being slowed by heavy armor is a defining trait - but a cantrip? Really? Something that nearly every class gets anyway? And something that every class is a single feat away from having? That does not say "elf" to me at all.