It's Better to Be Racist Than Color Blind

Race is a lightly veiled issue in this country and it takes only the slightest breeze to uncover it. We've seen this with the debate surrounding Henry Louis Gates' arrest, the health care and tea party protests, and Joe Wilson's outburst. Even Kanye West and Serena Williams' self-involved antics sparked national dialogue filled with racial undertones.

In these discussions, the word, "racist" is reliably thrown around. Another word you would hear in rebuttal is, "color blind." Before the next inevitable racially charged event, it's worth exploring the impact of both these terms.

Recently, a study done at the University of Texas Austin grabbed headlines when it suggested that infants even at six-months-old display racial preferences. The question this study left lingering was, "is distinguishing between races natural?"

Human self-separation and resulting social biases have existed since the beginning of mankind.

A brief look back through history shows all manner of divisions between groups of people we now would consider the "same". Romans enslaved the Slavs (hence the root of the word); different ethnic groups warred in Africa long before colonialism. If distinction between humans is natural and inevitable, does it make sense to pretend to ignore it? It follows that living in a multi-ethnic world, all people -- whether brave enough to admit it or not -- feel some of these biases.

To claim color blindness ignores this very human truth. We can no more be color blind than be unconscious of height, weight, age or sex. We can easily and openly describe any of those human characteristics; however we whisper or try to find creative ways to describe someone's race in conversation. Of course the reasons behind this discomfort are rooted in an ugly history that held race as the primary marker for our discrimination.

It is because of the atrocities of the past that we have let our national guilt swing the pendulum of the race discussion too far in a politically correct direction to the point where color blindness is held up as a virtue. Color blindness is not a virtue; it's dangerously ignorant.

In the study from the University of Texas Austin, the researcher examined groups of parents with their children and the children's racial attitudes. The children of parents who did not talk to them about race made no improvement in their racial attitudes, but the children of parents tasked with speaking to their kids about race showed a dramatic improvement in racial attitudes.

We give weight to the idea of race being negative by considering it taboo. The more we avoid the topic, the discussion, the word, the more power we lend it. To bring race into casual conversation is to treat it as it should be treated -- as a non-issue.

Now is the time to accept our human nature and admit that no matter who we are, there's a little racist living inside. To face our racist and look to battle its biases every day should be a personal and life long struggle for each of us against the very worst of our human nature. As any recovering addict can attest, the first step to recovery is admitting the problem.

Expel your prejudices by confronting them. Ignorance will get us nowhere.

Comments

[army193]

Is C-Street color blind or racist not sure.

[jessicadevyn]

Very good blog.

People are deluding themselves if they believe they are "colorblind". Ignoring the big purple elephant in the room doesn't make it go away.

There is nothing wrong with acknowledging physical differences. There is a problem with attributing negative groupings with those differences and using those differences as the main factor in how one treats another.

[bpafree]

When I think of a racist, I think of one who believes one race is inherently superior to other races which is not the same thing as the study which finds that each race has a predisposition to it's own race. Of course it's natural for babies to distinguish between races, but to feel a superiority is something else. (Can babies rank racial superiority between a multitude of races or is this something mom and dad will teach at the kitchen table?)

While I don't believe that anyone can be color blind (or should be if you want to have an honest understanding of your neighbor), I don't think it's better to be a true racist either.

This re-defining of "racist" as a good thing (as opposed to color blind) kinda reminds me of an attempt to desensitize the African American's reaction to the "N" word by their use of it by rappers, etc., etc. It didn't work. I wouldn't want to be with someone who by common terms thinks of himself as a racist. I think I'd have better luck showing a color blind person the light than a true racist.

[JR Jake]

"It's Better to Be Racist Than Color Blind"

I couldn't agree with you more. It is always better when a thief announces his arrival before he breaks into your house. I would much rather have a person wear his beliefs on his/her sleeves so I know where I stand than to have to guess their little nuances that may be subversive or divisive. However, I like people equally. Someday's I like them better than others but at least I am consistent.

[OliverTwist]

I'm not going to read Newsweek to discover that cognitive patterning and sensory recognition occurs in animals and humans very rapidly after birth. This is how we animals work.

It is preposterous however to entangle this recognition with the hostility and violence that is the defining characteristic of racism.

Better to consider that cognitive patterning and recognition extends to words and ideas and behaviors and this is how racism develops and is fostered.

[GreatTruthsSeeker]

It's a lot of later psychosocial conditioning (FOX & others) too. Thanks & fanned.

[wallyone]

Could it be that viewing the "other" from one's own group is our human default position?

And if so, it takes an active response to overcome it. Or at least a recognition of the facts, I.e., genetic similarity, accomplishments of all groups, individual excellence in all fields, etc.

[OliverTwist]

Recognition of the "same" is not limited to sight but to all the senses and to the mental senses of common viewpoints and ways of thinking as well.

[Angiefranci]

I definitely agree with the premise of the article.
My mother had the idea that all black people were wonderful, that they were actually better than white people (she was white). A while back I realize that I inherited her strange point of view and am seeking to correct it and see black people like I see white people, and that means as people and not as a race. One by one, with differences of background taken into consideration. Just common sense, I guess.

[wonketteRAWKS]

This is all based on a TEXAS study that determined racism exists in 6 MONTH OLDS?

[RasKesar]

Classifying people based on race never made sense to me. There are thousands of ethnicities and may be infinite shades of skin tones. Why we try to classify them simply as black / white is beyond my comprehension.

[Jaywalkker]

Slaves went free. Freemen repealed Jim Crow. Freemen were integrated. Freemen are obtaining positions of political and economic power. Freedmen civil rights is applied across other genders, sexualities, and physical conditions. Its a continual progression, why do you advocate dropping anchor now?

[metricfan]

Thank you Avenue Q for the song "everyone's a little bit racist"!

[Balzac]

Here's my style guide on ethnic relations. First, I use "ethnicity" instead of "race". It's just easier on the eyes and ears.

Secondly I agree that color-blindness is a weak description of how it should be, as if our ethnic heritage should be forgotten.

"Racism" isn't how I'd describe being aware and proud of your ethnic background. Nor would I use the word "Racism" to describe being aware of and respectful of other people's ethnic background.

Also, many institutions, businesses and bureaucracies should be "color-blind" unless their purpose is related to a specific ethnic group, such as the NAACP or ADL.

Other than your choice of words, I agree with your point. But it's not about to be an easy, casual conversation, given the amount of consternation and anxiety on the topic.

[BeFairNow]

How can you be 'proud' or 'not proud' of an ethnicity? Did you have a choice in the matter? Do you think it would be okay for a taller person stand next to you and declare loudly how proud they are of it? How would it make you feel? Not as though in their opinion being them was somehow better than being you, even if they didn't intend it that way? But how could that be if you are both of equal value? Do you see what I'm getting at? In my humble opinion, pride is what you feels when you achieve something that is of your own making; something you would not have achieved without personal/collective effort or sacrifice. Neither of those things will result in a choice/change of ethnicity or any other natural physical characteristic. Just a different way of looking at it I guess.

[llisa]

People are naturally sorters. Leave a child alone on the floor with his/her toys and he or she will sort them into piles of dolls or bears; red, blue or green blocks; trucks or cars. It is only natural for children to sort people by whatever differences they notice, and the most easily seen difference IS skin color.

As kids get older, they will sort their classmates (consciously or not) into smart and not smart, athletic or not athletic, pretty or not pretty, etc.

We, as parents, instead of telling kids that everybody is the same (of course children can plainly see that everybody is not the same) should recognize the differences and begin the discussion at that point. Yes, people are different. Isn''t it nice that we can look different or have different talents and abilities and interests. And, often we can look different and share interests.

(continued below)

[BeFairNow]

I understand your point but here is the bit where things get messy - when we start trying to characterize/classify the 'differences'. For some reason, it always starts off innocently enough, e.g. 'People can have different color skin' but it doesn't take long to get to 'People with that skin color do/feel/behave differently or want different thing out of life than people with this skin color' and that's where the problems start. Ironically, ethnicity is possibly the most superficial human. Peel away skin color and the make-up is all the same, with billions of tiny variations even within the same ethnicity. We can even give each other blood, tissue and organs across ethnic lines so how different are we really? I think the problem is a social one and the solution must therefore be social but we have to choose - either we go down the 'let us all be proud of our ethnicity' route, which can create stubborn division or let us just treat each other as human beings, which runs the risk of not recognising those differences that are important to acknowledge in the provision of health care, for example, where different ethnicities can be genetically predisposed to certain conditions. There must be a middle ground, but we must find it together with open, honest dialogue.

[llisa]

(continued from above)

My foster grandson (age 7,of mixed race, and living on public aid w/ his mother) went to day camp this summer and became fast friends with a little blond boy from a two-parent, more prosperous family . They were inseparable, until it was time for horseback riding. My little guy had waited all week for the horses, and his friend was afraid to get on one, and went on a hike instead.

When D came home, he told me he was no longer friends with M because M didn't like horses. Of all the differences between the two, he had sorted the two of them into horse-lover and horse-hater and couldn't see any way to continue being friends.

Of course we had a talk that M was still exactly the same kid he had been enjoying camp with all week and they could still do all the other activities together, it's OK to be different, etc. So, the two enjoyed the next week of camp together, only splitting up at horse-riding time, and are planning to try out the overnight camp session together next year.

People are natural sorters. We need to let the kids know that differences among people are OK.

[cuppaT]

Reminds me of just before my son turned 4, walking home from nursery he alarmed me by saying he didn't like the black boy. As far as I knew the nursery was rather monochrome. Cue talk in case new child had started. However, he'd been "sorting" on the basis of different colored tops the children had been wearing! And was quite bewildered by my little pep talk.

[llisa]

This is so cute.

[Aquilina]

Agreed and fanned. We as humans cannot help but notice the many ways each of us is different. It's part of our nature. I happen to be very short, so I've heard short jokes all my life. It used to bother me, but I've learned to take it in stride unless someone says something downright vicious. It helped me have a sense of humor. I now joke about my own height sometimes. On the job, I have surprised people by demonstrating that I was capable of things that, to look at me, they thought I could not do. Of course, my height has also given me certain physical limitations, and I have learned to respect those.

I think it's okay to notice differences, as long as we know that being different is okay.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

I think you are exactly right. I don't think color-blindness is the goal, it's tolerance. I think the most important way children learn to be tolerant is that they grow up in an integrated environment. Racial differences don't seem different if you grew up with people of other races around you and your parents explained that sometimes there will be differences, but that's ok.

[EscapeTireTube]

Maybe if the media would stop saying, "this is the first woman to...." or this is the "second African American" or "the third this and the first that...." WE ARE WHAT WE FOCUS ON!! If the simply don't make a big deal out of it, children growing up won't think its a big deal.

[hornagain]

Yes, the day a black man can lose an election with no cries of racism is the day that we have gotten somewhere.

[noudidnt]

Black men have lost elections for years....without cries of racism. What you meant to say is "the day a black man can be elected President of the United States without being called a "muslim" when he's not, a "marxist" when he's not, a "Kenyan" when he's not, a "racist" when he's not, or a "unqualfied" when he's more than qualified when our Constitution outlines the qualifications for President, then we will be getting somewhere!!!!

[llisa]

agreed