Is “Colorblindness” Good? That Depends…
A therapist said to me when I was in my 30’s and in the middle of a nervous breakdown that the issue we were discussing in that session was the reason why I had “let myself go”!!!
I looked at her in complete and utter disbelief! Say what??? I “let myself go”?
She did not understand why I was so upset. I didn’t know why she thought she had done anything other than kick my ass in a space I had thought was “safe”!
And then we talked about it, and for her it had no negative overtones; it was a statement of fact about how well I was — or in this case wasn’t — taking care of myself. As for me, all I heard was “slovenly bitch”. That was the undertone for me.
The phrase “color blind” is having a similar moment of epiphany for a lot of my fellow white folks. While some of us are comfortably in our speaking of that phrase in the fond belief that people know what we think it means, people in the black and brown communities are none too pleased. The cool thing is that they are saying why, and we are starting to hear.
Color blindness means you see no color at all — you see no differences. For the white liberal of a certain generation (mine — I was born late 1950's), this means that we don’t see you as deserving of any less than any other person. We have used this phrase for quite a long time, thinking it shows that we are allies.
For our brown and black brothers and sisters, that just doesn’t fly. Perhaps it never did. Perhaps it did for some. But certainly we do good by examining its meaning. Meaning is what makes language pulse with either understanding, or combative anger.
I choose understanding wherever I can.
So colorblindness means — if you’re black or brown — that your culture, your struggles, your realities as a person of color are simply not acknowledged. And guess what — they already are unacknowledged. They are unacknowledged to the point of death. To the point of murder.
So, we must aspire not to colorblindness but to inclusion. To do that, we have to communicate through our emotions, through our authenticity, with as much discernment and awareness and willingness to grow as we can.
That ain’t easy. I know. But it is the only path forward.
And be aware that when you speak, what you are saying may not be what the other person is hearing. Also be aware that when you are hearing, you may not be hearing accurately. With language, with communication, “translation” is necessary, even when you are speaking the same words.
The effort is well worth the rewards.
