On "color-blindness," again.
Apr. 20th, 2011 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gaudiorAnother day, another column pointing out the inherent racism in a film (John Shore on 'Hop'), another idiot commenter saying:
I just feel these race issues have gone on too long. Why can we not see each other as humans? Affirmative action only furthers the idea that each race is different... I just don’t think we should be focusing so hard on this.
But it seems like a good chance to trot out a new way of explaining the problem with this argument.
Saying "we should all be color-blind and see each other as humans without thinking of race" is very much like if I go up to someone and say, "Bob-- I don't care that you're wearing a long-sleeved shirt today. When I see you, I don't even think to myself about what kind of shirt you're wearing-- it's like I can't see it at all. I just see you as a human being, like me-- why should it matter that your shirt has long sleeves?"
People of different races are, in fact, different. They have different cultural heritages and ways that people treat them and (sometimes) languages and traditions and skin tones. If you didn't think difference meant something bad about the person, there would be no reason not to mention it.
It's true that pretending there's no difference is better than, say, beating Bob up or refusing to hire him or serve him. It's definitely a step in the right direction. But it means that nobody will take Bob to the hospital after someone beat him up for wearing a long-sleeved shirt, because that would mean acknowledging that he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and that there were consequences to other people reacting to that.
And besides the more serious consequence of people ignoring the real results of racism-- claiming colorblindness is silly. There's nothing wrong with wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so there's no earthly reason not to mention it and acknowledge it when it comes up. There's nothing wrong with someone being a different race, so there's no earthly reason not to mention it and acknowledge it when it comes up. Doesn't that seem straightforward?
--R
I just feel these race issues have gone on too long. Why can we not see each other as humans? Affirmative action only furthers the idea that each race is different... I just don’t think we should be focusing so hard on this.
But it seems like a good chance to trot out a new way of explaining the problem with this argument.
Saying "we should all be color-blind and see each other as humans without thinking of race" is very much like if I go up to someone and say, "Bob-- I don't care that you're wearing a long-sleeved shirt today. When I see you, I don't even think to myself about what kind of shirt you're wearing-- it's like I can't see it at all. I just see you as a human being, like me-- why should it matter that your shirt has long sleeves?"
People of different races are, in fact, different. They have different cultural heritages and ways that people treat them and (sometimes) languages and traditions and skin tones. If you didn't think difference meant something bad about the person, there would be no reason not to mention it.
It's true that pretending there's no difference is better than, say, beating Bob up or refusing to hire him or serve him. It's definitely a step in the right direction. But it means that nobody will take Bob to the hospital after someone beat him up for wearing a long-sleeved shirt, because that would mean acknowledging that he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and that there were consequences to other people reacting to that.
And besides the more serious consequence of people ignoring the real results of racism-- claiming colorblindness is silly. There's nothing wrong with wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so there's no earthly reason not to mention it and acknowledge it when it comes up. There's nothing wrong with someone being a different race, so there's no earthly reason not to mention it and acknowledge it when it comes up. Doesn't that seem straightforward?
--R
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Re: The actual comment.
Date: 2011-04-21 01:41 pm (UTC)1) I just feel these race issues have gone on too long...I just don't think we should be focusing so hard on this.
This is issue fatigue, plain and simple. The individual is clearly from privilege, because they have the luxury of considering not talking about this stuff. Since they're not feeling the pain at issue, investigating it involves the self-infliction of pain, a thing we're all supposedly wired to avoid. Seeing people suffering from issue fatigue is very frustrating - especially when they're fatigued on an issue that is important to you.
2.) Why can we not see each other as humans?
Addressed above, this is the color-blindness argument you are addressing in your post.
3.) Affirmative action [is a bad policy].
This one may not be separate, I'd have to see the context in which the comment appeared, but if this is a separate point, it goes entirely unaddressed in your rebuttal. There's a whole host of arguments against affirmative action as executed in the USA. Personally, I find it problematic because I see it as an institutionalization of tokenism, but that's a separate issue. The presence of this comment, especially if it seems off-topic in context, suggests that this person is responding purely out of issue fatigue and has resorted to defensively parroting whatever they heard most recently on the subject that they agreed with.
As a practical matter, I don't think a different argument against color-blindness is the most effective approach. I think seeking to combat issue fatigue would be more effective.
I do salute your efforts to re-frame the discussion though, as I see this as indirectly doing the same thing.
And yes, it does seem very straightforward. :)