Colorblindness
I've been reading a lot about race and privilege recently. Not sure why it captured my attention within the past six months or so after pretty much a lifetime of not really examining the issue, but it's a good thing. (That's part of white privilege: the fact that I _could_ get away without examining the issue for so long. Only someone who hasn't faced institutionalized oppression as a result of her race could ignore it. But I digress.)
The term "colorblind" has irritated me for awhile but I was never able to really peg why, exactly, it bothered me. Then it came up on a friend's journal today (won't bother linking to the post since it's FLocked) where somebody in the comments talked about being colorblind, at which point I posted this macro and said:
The whole "colorblind" thing, to me, makes me think of privilege. Both conscious and unconscious racism affect many PoC every day; it seems like many PoC wouldn't have the privilege of being "colorblind", because the race of the people they're dealing with can affect them in a very real and fundamental way. It seems like choosing to pretend race doesn't matter is a privilege of whiteness. (Based upon where one is geographically, of course. Obviously if the discussion was about, say, Japan, then that's different because a white person would be in an inferior category there.)
And it was really the first time that I'd thought it out that coherently to myself. So I've spent the evening researching it further and came across some good articles on the subject.
Since You Asked: Colorblind, Part 1 (personal) and Colorblind, Part 2 (academic). (Note that the comments are also quite interesting, and I specifically liked this part written by "little light": "And that gets more at the angle I’m pushing for: color-blindness, on an individual philosophical level, generally comes from good intentions because much of it is basically admirable. But the problem is not just that only a few people have to luxury of not thinking about race all the time; it’s that color-blindness casts racism as an individual problem while ignoring it as an institutional problem. It keeps you from seeing, and fixing, the problems that crop up because other people are still dealing with race and treating you accordingly. Yes, it’s possible that you, yourself, are no longer discriminating-but then, if that person of color tells you that on an institutional level-say, by a governmental organization, or a school, or a cultural idea widely-held-they’re getting screwed, it starts to look like they’re making their own problems by believing in race as a reality, and can’t they just get over it? And that drives people of color absolutely crazy. And then the next response is, “Why are you being so irrational, POC? I’m not racist. I don’t see race at all, because we should all be equals.”
We should be, but it’s not a level playing field to start with, and if we don’t look at the ways, institutionally, that playing field isn’t level, then we’re never going to be able to make it level so that we can, maybe, all eventually move on to not worrying about race. So long as race, the idea, is still having a real and concrete negative effect on people’s lives, they can’t afford to be color-blind. It that would be like ignoring incoming punches toward your face because you believe violence is wrong, and then being surprised when you didn’t have the chance to block or run away as options. When someone who has a bunch of bodyguards asks you why you’re being so weird-violence is wrong, and shouldn’t exist, so what was it that happened to you?-sometimes you get, well, really defensive."
I also loved this comment from lovelesscynic: "In terms of colorblindness, I tend not to agree with it. Seeing everyone as equal is a noble thing, perhaps, but it’s also a luxury. Furthermore, this blindness really only works if you’re looking down. When you’re of color, poor etc, the inequalities become extremely apparent extremely quickly. And being aware of them becomes a necessary part of your survival. Many of us, as Little Light has said, do not have the luxury of overlooking them, they affect us on a day to day basis.
On another level, I also feel that color blindness is just sort of wrong headed in general. We are not the same. Everyone comes from a different place, has different opportunities, different levels of access to resources, connections, and power. This should be acknowledged. I dislike the idea that race should be overlooked, it shouldn’t! It may disadvantage me in some ways, but my race is not some mark of Cain I carry around with me, it’s part of me, it makes me different. I’m fine with that. I don’t want my differences to be overlooked necessarily. Rather than not seeing differences, shouldn’t we be more concerned with acknowledging them and attempting to respect them? That seems more constructive to me."
Why You Shouldn't Be Colorblind: "More importantly, when you proclaim that you’re colorblind, what you’re really implying is that race doesn’t matter in America. While it’s true that race is not a biological reality, it is a very real social construct that has a profound impact on our lives. Race still matters because racism is alive and well. Pretending otherwise negates the everyday experiences of millions of people of color in this country.
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said it best when he stated that colorblindness means being “blind to the consequences of being the wrong color in America today.”"
After doing all the research I've done tonight, it's really solidified my feelings re: colorblindness being a form of privilege.
The term "colorblind" has irritated me for awhile but I was never able to really peg why, exactly, it bothered me. Then it came up on a friend's journal today (won't bother linking to the post since it's FLocked) where somebody in the comments talked about being colorblind, at which point I posted this macro and said:
The whole "colorblind" thing, to me, makes me think of privilege. Both conscious and unconscious racism affect many PoC every day; it seems like many PoC wouldn't have the privilege of being "colorblind", because the race of the people they're dealing with can affect them in a very real and fundamental way. It seems like choosing to pretend race doesn't matter is a privilege of whiteness. (Based upon where one is geographically, of course. Obviously if the discussion was about, say, Japan, then that's different because a white person would be in an inferior category there.)
And it was really the first time that I'd thought it out that coherently to myself. So I've spent the evening researching it further and came across some good articles on the subject.
Since You Asked: Colorblind, Part 1 (personal) and Colorblind, Part 2 (academic). (Note that the comments are also quite interesting, and I specifically liked this part written by "little light": "And that gets more at the angle I’m pushing for: color-blindness, on an individual philosophical level, generally comes from good intentions because much of it is basically admirable. But the problem is not just that only a few people have to luxury of not thinking about race all the time; it’s that color-blindness casts racism as an individual problem while ignoring it as an institutional problem. It keeps you from seeing, and fixing, the problems that crop up because other people are still dealing with race and treating you accordingly. Yes, it’s possible that you, yourself, are no longer discriminating-but then, if that person of color tells you that on an institutional level-say, by a governmental organization, or a school, or a cultural idea widely-held-they’re getting screwed, it starts to look like they’re making their own problems by believing in race as a reality, and can’t they just get over it? And that drives people of color absolutely crazy. And then the next response is, “Why are you being so irrational, POC? I’m not racist. I don’t see race at all, because we should all be equals.”
We should be, but it’s not a level playing field to start with, and if we don’t look at the ways, institutionally, that playing field isn’t level, then we’re never going to be able to make it level so that we can, maybe, all eventually move on to not worrying about race. So long as race, the idea, is still having a real and concrete negative effect on people’s lives, they can’t afford to be color-blind. It that would be like ignoring incoming punches toward your face because you believe violence is wrong, and then being surprised when you didn’t have the chance to block or run away as options. When someone who has a bunch of bodyguards asks you why you’re being so weird-violence is wrong, and shouldn’t exist, so what was it that happened to you?-sometimes you get, well, really defensive."
I also loved this comment from lovelesscynic: "In terms of colorblindness, I tend not to agree with it. Seeing everyone as equal is a noble thing, perhaps, but it’s also a luxury. Furthermore, this blindness really only works if you’re looking down. When you’re of color, poor etc, the inequalities become extremely apparent extremely quickly. And being aware of them becomes a necessary part of your survival. Many of us, as Little Light has said, do not have the luxury of overlooking them, they affect us on a day to day basis.
On another level, I also feel that color blindness is just sort of wrong headed in general. We are not the same. Everyone comes from a different place, has different opportunities, different levels of access to resources, connections, and power. This should be acknowledged. I dislike the idea that race should be overlooked, it shouldn’t! It may disadvantage me in some ways, but my race is not some mark of Cain I carry around with me, it’s part of me, it makes me different. I’m fine with that. I don’t want my differences to be overlooked necessarily. Rather than not seeing differences, shouldn’t we be more concerned with acknowledging them and attempting to respect them? That seems more constructive to me."
Why You Shouldn't Be Colorblind: "More importantly, when you proclaim that you’re colorblind, what you’re really implying is that race doesn’t matter in America. While it’s true that race is not a biological reality, it is a very real social construct that has a profound impact on our lives. Race still matters because racism is alive and well. Pretending otherwise negates the everyday experiences of millions of people of color in this country.
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said it best when he stated that colorblindness means being “blind to the consequences of being the wrong color in America today.”"
After doing all the research I've done tonight, it's really solidified my feelings re: colorblindness being a form of privilege.