I have to address this. My Mom raised me to be color blind. My family mostly have light brown hair, green eyes. I may have light skin, but I was the 'black sheep'. She may not have been the best mother, but I got value and comfort from that.
My neighborhood had very few black people. My graduating class was probably 90% hispanic, 10% "other".
I'm just learning this 'white privilege' and 'color blind' thing. I really am color blind, no pretending. Call me naive. I don't know how else to be.
I talk to my bf about it all, and he's opening my eyes more.
Neg me into oblivion if you like, but I am proud of the way I see the world. I have hope. I hate discrimination of any kind.
So when you look at statistics that show black people being punished more heavily for the same crimes, or blacks being given lesser care in hospitals, or less pay, or discrimination in the housing market, or a numerous amount of other statistics that show a clear and defined race-based oppression in this country...you don't notice anything is wrong?
Being "color-blind" isn't progressive or helpful at all towards achieving racial equality. It's white liberal baloney.
Hell, at this point, I wouldn't even say it's a liberal perspective...it's been adopted heavily by conservatives (for the reasons I mentioned above)...it's a purely white privileged perspective.
It's a condescending perspective for you to not acknowledge a persons race, just on an individual level that's fukking wack.
From a wider, social perspective, it's outright dangerous perspective to have. Did you "not see race" during the Trayvon Martin trial? Have deep does this perspective go? Would you have "not seen race" during Jim Crow?
Blacks don't have the luxury of being "color blind"...our color can result in us being fukking killed. So we need to acknowledge racial realities as much as possible.
If you want to be a true ally, you need to acknowledge how race affects the lives of ethnic minorities, in particular black people who are constantly the odd-men out and black sheep (no pun intended) of the planet. Most importantly, you need to call out other whites for their racist bullshyt when you see it. You can't do this if you "don't see race".
I need to be armed. They'll be mixed and beautiful....
