I agree with every person I hear say, "Color doesn't matter....it is who the person is." True to an extent though. Color does matter. I believe that every individual I have heard make this statement (or "I don't see color") is a white person. Not that it is bad. It should be true. The skin color of a person should not matter. But there is division. Color does matter. It is unfortunate in some cases.............but mostly it is WONDERFUL!!
Having difference is WONDERFUL!!
Being Unique is IMPORTANT!!
Shoot if we are honest.........there are lots of folks who ADD color to make their experience different - to stand out - to make sure that the color is SEEN. Tattoo's? They are everywhere these days. My 9 year old son's ever changing hair colors? Difference is beautiful...........Difference is sought after..........Difference is an art form...........so why are we claiming to not see a Difference when we should really be embracing it? It is totally confusing to me.
What does a person mean when they say "I don't see color?". My guess is for most it is a way of saying "I am not a racist." Which is good. I mean to not be a racist is good. But in saying that you don't see color you may also be saying that you don't see their difference. And I will put this in a white person perspective because I am a white person. When I look at a person I relate them to me - to my experience - to my life. I am white. If I am looking at a person who is any other race or color then I am erasing something important about them. I am white washing them so to speak. Their experience being NOT ME. Their experience being a different race. And the argument would be absolutely correct to say that I am doing the same exact thing for the person who is of the same race I am. They have a completely different life experience and I have erased it by first putting them in my own experiential history. Does that make sense? I will never have the same experience that another person has. But to say I don't see color is not fair to the person I am erasing the color off of - regardless of what race they are - same or different then my own.
Embracing the thought that another person's color represents their experience........their family culture........their neighborhood culture.......their personality........their history.......their Themness.
The other day I asked my 5 year old what his favorite color was. I know his favorite color. Blue. And I fully expected to hear him say, "Blue. Maudy you know my favorite color is blue." But I am one of those moms who likes to ask the same question over and over again. Making notes of the things that might be answered differently.
That day he surprised me. When I asked what his favorite color was he did not say Blue - instead he said, "Brown." I said, "Why is your favorite color brown?" He said, "Because I am brown and my E is brown." His E is his best friend that lives down the street. E is brown just like my son. Then he added, "Brown is my favorite to be Maudy, but I like your color too."
He see's the difference and he is 5.
What's my point? Ummmm.....well I suppose my point is SEE THE DIFFERENCE.....Embrace it....don't try to make it go away........Maybe it we all can accept that we are not all the same we can start really seeing each other.
4 comments:
I love the last sentence of this post. That's a good way to think about it.
I love this. And I am the first person to admit I used to say that I don't see color. It took me a while to realize that not seeing color meant you were missing so much. I think what people are trying to say is that they don't see the stereotypes of race, but it doesn't help you see the true and natural differences between different human beings. I knew these things but it's been years since I've put it in words and I've never heard it put as well as this. :)
We've been reading The Colors of Us here lately. It's a picture book and is all about differnces.
Just got around to reading this post. Sorry. I'll try not to ramble on, but this is a topic I talk to students about every semester. We talk about how so many teachers say things like, "In this class, we're all purple!" as a way to teach students to be colorblind. How absurd, right?! The students must think the teacher is off her rocker; even D knows people come in all different colors, and none of them are purple!
One of the readings we complete for the class talks about this topic indepth, and the author contends that when we, as you put it, white-wash others, it's a way of implying that there must be something wrong with being something other than white. Yikes. While I believe that teachers' intentions are noble regarding race, there are often very subtle biases that are betrayed with seemingly benign comments like the purple comment above. Sheesh--there I go rambling. Still, there's an interesting article called Not the Color Purple. I'll try to dig it up for you if you're interested. I'm done now.
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