Taking Off The Colorblind Filter

In “Colorblindness is counterproductive” written by Adia Harvey Wingfield, the topic of colorblindness it tackled. Wingfield begins by commenting on phrases we have all most likely heard in our lives such as “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” A phrase that even I will admit I have been guilty of in the past. I say guilty because despite what I would love to believe of myself, I am aware that it is likely I have some racist biases that come from growing up in a predominantly white environment. That’s not to say that I believe myself to be racist, but I acknowledge that I am a work in process that always has room for improvement.

Wingfield goes on to speak about how colorblindness can be a way to ignore many issues by choosing not to bring attention to them. It allows for major issues to be overlooked. It can also lead to only one side of a situation getting noticed. In my HUMS Diversity Issues in Human Services class, we tackled the topic of intersectionality this week. In a Ted talk done by Kimberle Crenshaw called “The urgency of intersectionality” she gave an example of a black woman being discriminated against during the hiring process because of her gender and race. When she took the case to court the judge ruled against her because the company she was applying to hired both women and black individuals. What the judge failed to consider was that the company didn’t hire any women that were also black.  

With colorblindness promoting looking over an individual’s race, it leaves a great deal unconsidered and fails to take into account how different forms of oppression interact. Another example is if someone was both a racial minority and in a lower social class, If you are looking at it through the lens of colorblindness you would only look at one aspect of the equation and fails to acknowledge a very important part of an individual.

However, not everyone believes that colorblindness is a bad term. Many think that getting rid of the term color blindness will put emphasis on white individuals and will put us back in the fight against racism. Friedersdorf states it will allow “whites” to cling to their privileges rather than critique them.  He also makes the argument that “individuality should be the center of identity” which makes for an easy way to ignore the oppression minorities face.

Growing up I was raised with a very strong colorblind mentality. My little brother is of mixed race and my mother taught us growing up that there was absolutely nothing different about him, which simply wasn’t true. She did this in an attempt to ensure he never felt like he was other than us, to the point that she never really acknowledged that he was mixed. I altered my thought process on the idea of color blindness years ago and began the process of actively seeing the cultures and races within my community once my brother was old enough to speak up and tell me how he felt about it.

I was surprised to hear that he didn’t feel like he was always included but rather that as a family we choose to ignore a very important part of who he was. It also made us blind in many ways to how some members of the community treated him because we weren’t looking for the oppression. When we were younger, I remember a security guard that would seem to randomly follow us around our local store. It wasn’t until my brother mentioned that he was always followed that I realized the randomness wasn’t random at all. There wasn’t anything beyond his skin color was different from a distance. In fact, he has always dressed far nicer than me.  In trying to be wholly accepting and colorblind we excluded a major part of his identity, and it allowed us to be ignorant to difficulties he was facing.   

When reading the blog I agreed with many things, though I think the issues involving police brutality is far more complex than what can be explained in a condensed version. I also would love to hear more from the racial minorities and how it affects them. The blog focuses a lot on how white individual’s thought process would be affected, and while I know they are the main oppressors I also think they are the least important voice in the conversation.

While looking for the opinions of the oppressed on this topic I found a ted talk by Mellody Hobson that gives another perspective and introduces color blind vs color brave. The idea that race should be a part a honest part of the conversation.

I also found a ted talk by Coleman Hughes that proposes that the idea that the term color blindness is good but is misused in many ways. He makes some good points in his video, and while I think his voice is important I believe the cons of colorblindness far outweigh the pros.