I've known two people of colour (Canadians, like that was any surprise) who have claimed to be 'colourblind' - my friend, recently, who agreed to the colourblind ideal when I asked him; and myself.
Because a LOT of PoC in cities as multicultural as this one can completely buy into the whole 'colourblind' ideal. For me it was a way of saying "I am just like you! I am not like an immigrant! Please continue to perpetuate your privilege with my stamp of approval! Will you approve of me now?". For my friend, he says it for reasons having to do with being the lone Vietnamese immigrant family growing up in a northern BC town - either you accept racism and internalize it, or never, ever ever ever belong.
Both stem from the need to belong. God, I wanted to belong to the white Vancouver so badly for so much of my life and I'm still trying to break out of it. I think a lot of the second-gen like me face this, because we don't want to be lumped in with the 'fresh-off-the-boat' PoC or - even more novel - 'reverse racists'. So we allow ourselves to become the token non-white friend, we laugh and agree with the jokes and assumptions and "but it's true, right?!?" about this PoC group and that PoC group and even our group - and sometimes we end up parroting back these stereotypes to get a self-deprecating laugh. And assure our friends that: zomg!a non-white person saying this? HILARIOUS! (Also, it must be true!)
White people just want to get along with everyone! They shouldn't be denied! And if they say colourblind is best, then it must be true. Right? *facepalm*
I haven't asked some other non-white pals about this whole thing, because sometimes I find it less painful to talk to white friends who are either anti-racist allies, or clueless about racism. Talking to clueless PoC is painful and hard and painful, omg. I guess because I've been there too. :(
*smush* When I was writing this I was initially going to just say that POC never say that they are colourblind, but then I realised that that would probably be a mistake, because so often racism is internalized - not to mention sweeping generalisations are never a good thing.
It took me awhile to even realise that 'colourblindness' couldn't be a good thing - it's an argument that you see so often online, especially.
I love living in Vancouver because it's so multicultural, but obviously I can't really understand what it must be like as a PoC. I think I see a lot of 'but it's true, right?' at work, but it's hard to tell. If it's so hard here, I can't imagine what it might be like in other places in Canada that aren't as diverse.
Because a LOT of PoC in cities as multicultural as this one can completely buy into the whole 'colourblind' ideal. For me it was a way of saying "I am just like you! I am not like an immigrant! Please continue to perpetuate your privilege with my stamp of approval! Will you approve of me now?". For my friend, he says it for reasons having to do with being the lone Vietnamese immigrant family growing up in a northern BC town - either you accept racism and internalize it, or never, ever ever ever belong.
Both stem from the need to belong. God, I wanted to belong to the white Vancouver so badly for so much of my life and I'm still trying to break out of it. I think a lot of the second-gen like me face this, because we don't want to be lumped in with the 'fresh-off-the-boat' PoC or - even more novel - 'reverse racists'. So we allow ourselves to become the token non-white friend, we laugh and agree with the jokes and assumptions and "but it's true, right?!?" about this PoC group and that PoC group and even our group - and sometimes we end up parroting back these stereotypes to get a self-deprecating laugh. And assure our friends that: zomg!a non-white person saying this? HILARIOUS! (Also, it must be true!)
White people just want to get along with everyone! They shouldn't be denied! And if they say colourblind is best, then it must be true. Right? *facepalm*
I haven't asked some other non-white pals about this whole thing, because sometimes I find it less painful to talk to white friends who are either anti-racist allies, or clueless about racism. Talking to clueless PoC is painful and hard and painful, omg. I guess because I've been there too. :(
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It took me awhile to even realise that 'colourblindness' couldn't be a good thing - it's an argument that you see so often online, especially.
I love living in Vancouver because it's so multicultural, but obviously I can't really understand what it must be like as a PoC. I think I see a lot of 'but it's true, right?' at work, but it's hard to tell. If it's so hard here, I can't imagine what it might be like in other places in Canada that aren't as diverse.
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