At what point does being "colorblind" turn to just blindness to facts?

Question

I asked a question about aversive racism a while back.

I thought I would share a link to the blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S_0n5BlpD0



Any thoughts?

ol' baby. thanks for the link. I would like to highlight a sentence for the non-clickers

"I have since learned to differentiate between racial prejudice and racism. It often causes anger and discomfort among other whites when I assert my belief that while people of races can be racially prejudiced, only whites can be racist."

Answer 1

Most people just don't want to acknowledge that color does matter. They may want it not to, but it does.

Check this out:

http://www.colby.edu/par/Winter%2000/racematters.htm

Answer 2

Is "colorblind" a positive trait? or even relatively positive? I wish I could repeat my mother's explanation when I, at age 10, proudly announced that I was "colorblind" to race. [too bad the other kids at school weren't colorblind...] In a nutshell she made the valid point that colorblind ignored the intrinsic beauty of people and their amazing contributions like the lovely Queen Latifah or Graham Greene or ... well, you get the picture. I just didn't realize she was trying to prepare me for my life as a multi-racial female.

The primary fact for me:
We have scientifically proven that the human beings alive today are descended from what are termed "biological Adam" and "biological Eve" [as distinguished from Biblical Adam & Eve] who had the gumption to walk out of Africa and explore the world. So sorry to all the racists and bigots on the planet, but each of us is a mixture of ethnicity descended from generations of ancestors. Even if you do your DNA and mitochondrial DNA ancestor probes, you will not learn about 99% of your ancestors.

I will connect to the blog from another computer - I don't have sound on mine - but doesn't that woman just have a whole huge wardrobe of looks!

Answer 3

Yes your belief makes no sense. What is your definition of "racist"? Mine is a racist is any person (of any race) who judges people on the basis of their race rather than on merit. There most certainly are some black persons who use the term "whitey", for example, who are clearly racists.

Answer 4

good question, i can only speak for myself. yes my bf is white but i know that racial prejudice exists. all the things that latifah was talking about i have had happen to me, when whites turn to me for that is this okay, i quickly let them know whether it is (for me only) and whether it isn't. for instance my bf's uncle (racist) was saying that the jena situation was racist the white boy being beat up. i quickly let him know that

A: if the boy who got beat was black, it wouldn't even be on the news.
B: how many times have whites aggressed (lynchings, beatings, rapings, etc.) in history and nothing has happened.
C: that was a high school scuffle, the boy who got beat up, went to a party that night so he could not be that hurt.
D:the only reason you are mad is because the white boy got his azz whipped, but you neglect to realize he had 5 friends w/ him it was originally 6 against 6 and they got their butts whipped to but ran away and left him their.

so all in all when white ppl ask me "what blacks think" i quickly tell them i cannot speak for all black ppl because i don't know them all, i can only speak for myself. i think colorblind turns to just blindness when you don't deal with the issues as they are.

Answer 5

I've never been "color-blind". And I think there are a lot of folks who are thought of as being "color-blind" when they really only want race to stop being the foundation of our opinions/treatment of people. Some people even misuse the word "color-blind" without realizing what it truly means. "At what point does being "colorblind" turn to just blindness to facts?" This happens at the point which someone becomes "color-blind"... To be "color-blind" IS to be blind to facts (facts involving color). We can't be aware of all facts while refusing to acknowledge color. If we don't see color then we can't possibly see any color related problems; because, in the mind of the "color-blind" person, the absence of color = the solution to such problems.

"....and already Americans, especially white Americans, have begun to complain that we are too focused on race. Why, they plead, can't we be a color-blind society?"
----Again, I think this is often confused with the desire for race to not be the basis on which we treat people and form opinions about them. Of course, I'm not denying that there are people who wear blinders... But I'm not sure whether or not the writer can tell the difference.

"Recognizing the reality of white privilege—"
----My experiences were completely different from the writer's. My face was never slapped with the sudden realization that whites are in the majority and in control. Perhaps this is due to my environment- being raised by parents who made a point to teach me about race related issues, the importance of recognizing and appreciating differences, and so on- growing up primarily around black people, and actually being viewed as black by many of them, but yet also having ties to white people. This put me in a place which enabled me to see things from different perspectives. I've always known that there are more white models featured on magazine covers, that whites dominate television and the media, that the white power structure excludes non-whites in several ways and denies them the basic respect of including their history as an equal part of our history as a whole. I've always been aware of these facts and a great deal more. And there are many others like me.

"Instead, I was accepting the unearned advantages that being white brought me. I would never have called myself racist, but by not being an active antiracist I was allowing the systematic institutional racism that ultimately benefits me to go on."
----The truth is that we all support the state of things. White privilege is something that each one of us embraces without even realizing it. Participating in the economy, attending school, seeking / gaining / maintaining employment, etc- It all helps to maintain white privilege by tolerating and strengthening the white privileged system.

Instead of rebelling against the white establishment, we're ALL guilty of some degree of complacency. We're content to go to work each day, because we need to support ourselves. Go without? Hell no! Not us! We're more than happy with stuffing our hard earned money into the pockets of those who dictate and control, because it gives us temporary fulfillment. Contrary to popular belief, this puts us all in the same boat to an extent. While we're all busy debating racial issues, we fail to see that, while white privilege is very real and all white people benefit from it in various ways, most white people don't benefit from the more advantageous white privileges.

The majority of white people are members of the poor and the middle class as a result of white privilege. Note: BECAUSE of white privilege, NOT despite it. Racism and white privilege share the same roots as the "Willie Lynch" method that gave birth to much of the prejudices that exist among black people (i.e."colorism", for example). Slavery in America wasn't initially a race based system. White Europeans conquered and enslaved American Indians. However, they brought many of their own to the "New World" in chains. The powers that be would have us to believe that these were nothing more than indentured servants. Not true. Just as black Africans sold their criminals, prisoners of war, and other "undesirables" into slavery, white Europeans sold THEIR "undesirables" as well. Criminals, traitors, and vagrants were sold into and/or sentenced to slavery. The poor sold their children. And people were kidnapped and sold into slavery, including women and children. These white Europeans, along with the American Indians, were the first slaves to toil in the "New World".

When black Africans arrived as slaves, they entered into a society in which it wasn't uncommon for masters to beat their white slaves to death. Owning white slaves was prevalent. Likewise, there weren't only white slave owners but Indian slave owners as well- and, later, black slave owners. (Yes, blacks and Indians who assimilated into "civilized" white society could own slaves. Because, as I said, slavery wasn't a race based institution.) Were they equal in number? No, but they did exist. Inequality flourished, but it wasn't due to a racial divide or a racial superiority complex. In fact, it was more common to push white slaves past the point of human endurance, because white slaves were cheap and thought to be of lesser quality than blacks. The black slaves were more expensive, and they were thought to have more strength and stamina. Therefore, to lose a black slave was to lose a tidy investment.

It wasn't until after slavery began to shift to an order of racial inequality that white privilege and contempt for blacks had fully developed. White privilege (as we know it) and contempt for blacks were unforeseen results of a divide and conquer method implemented by the slave masters. Up until this point, whites and blacks shared common problems. Both were oppressed and abused in ways that we can only imagine. Whites and blacks worked side by side. They socialized with one another. And, eventually, they revolted together.

The master class started to fear that, together, slaves would become capable of overcoming their masters. And, thus, racism was born by planting seeds of fictional black inferiority. Blacks were chosen as the "inferior" race for two reasons: 1) With whites being in greater numbers, it was anticipated that blacks could be easily controlled and forced to remain in slavery, which was the most desired outcome because 2) blacks were more valued as slaves.

The above shift occurred at different times in different colonies and regions due to various factors. The master class polluted the land with lies of white superiority and began offering benefits to the socially inferior whites. Laws were enacted which forbid relations between whites and blacks, which required that white servants whose indentures were complete be given food and land (The same didn't apply to black servants when their indentures were up.), and which imposed strict restrictions on black servants and slaves. Some masters freed their white slaves or permitted them to purchase their freedom. This created a loss of labor which was a problem addressed by extending the indentures of black servants indefinitely- leading to the end of servitude and the dawn of a society completely reliant upon black slavery, a society that also systematically destroyed American Indian life, and a society that embraced white privilege.

The master class didn't anticipate that their successful divide and conquer method would later also succeed in destroying their slave system. Convincing white people of their "superiority" led to hatred of non-whites. There were some whites who opposed slavery for moral reasons, but many opposed slavery because their hatred for non-whites was so intense that they wanted them out of the picture.

So, how does all this have anything to do with white people being members of the poor and middle class due to white privilege? Well, the powers that be have always regarded us as inferior- all of us who are "low rank", "uncivilized", "unworthy", etc... And they have to keep us right where we are in order to ensure that we remain oblivious to the fact that they've never really been motivated by race. Racism was, and still is, a ploy to support the rich and powerful- to guarantee that they remain wealthy and in control. The master class still lives. And yes, they're white. But white isn't why they continue to rule. They continue to rule because they've managed to keep most of us ignorant, which is precisely why history isn't taught and reported accurately. Awareness of white slavery would fly in the face of white superiority and threaten to destroy the master class.

We're all being manipulated, just as we've always been. The master class went so far as to oppress and torture black people with Jim Crow just for the sake of making certain that "inferior" whites continued to buy into the fallacy that blacks are inferior- the fallacy that gives the master class their power.

"It often causes anger and discomfort among other whites when I assert my belief that while people of races can be racially prejudiced, only whites can be racist."
----For some reason, I'm always surprised when people make such statements. I'm still waiting for someone- anyone- to explain what it is that they think the difference is between racial prejudice and racism. The fact of the matter is that racism IS racial prejudice, as racism is a type of prejudice which is based upon race. Did white people give birth to it? Absolutely. As I stated above, the master class invented racism for the purpose of maintaining their system. And the master class feeds racism for the purpose of maintaining the current system. But common sense dictates that anyone can be racist. Racism is like the common cold virus (in that it can spread very easily, and such has happened and continues to happen.)

We've reached a point at which I don't think anyone here truly has the market cornered on racism. I'm not denying that it can be successfully argued that non-whites are victimized by the establishment in ways that whites are not. However, as we're all keenly aware, racism extends beyond the establishment.

"They can go back to sleep and never think about race again, or they can continue to be awakened...."
----This is an incredibly broad statement. And I'm quite sure that it applies to some white people. But, unfortunately, many of us (perhaps most) have been (and will continue to be) kicked in the teeth by racism.