Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)
Sat May 26, 2012, 06:15 AM May 2012

In my experience people who say they don't see race are deluding themselves.

I think you would have to deliberately chose to ignore race to somehow not see it. And if you ignore race, that means you are ignoring racism too, I think.

It's quite convenient to be colorblind all of a sudden after centuries of race-based theft and discrimination where all the benefits went to one race.

Now that people have stopped accepting that kind of theft and are pointing it out, trying to take back some of what was stolen, it's not at all surprising that some people in the dominant group want everyone to be colorblind.

Some other people sincerely want to be colorblind I guess, because they want to live out MLK's dream where people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

It's a worthy goal and I respect people who take that attitude if they are sincere, but mostly I think it involves a heavy dose of self-delusion at best. At its worst the "colorblind" attitude ends up being one of the biggest enforcers of racism.

Is it ironic that not seeing race can make you a huge racist? Yeah, that's funny, but it's true. But not all the time. Just usually. Glad I could clear that up for everyone. You're welcome.


Latest Discussions»General Discussion»In my experience people w...