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kolOn the term "colorblind" and why I use it in a different context than what some people see it as (It is long and rambly, but I promise it might be interesting. If you skip to the end, you get a spiel on why I think having 50 states being totally different is totally awesome, and totally fail to link that back to colorblind correctly. But it ties in, even if it is only in my head. Maybe because you can't tell what state a person is from by looking at them, so looks have nothing to do with who we are? I don't know. I'll give you a muffin if you read-- this is seriously the only blogging against racism post I will do, I swear <3).
....
I came across an LJ entry of someone being upset with the statement "I was raised to be colorblind," and how racist it was. It got me thinking. Because, I *was* raised to be as colorblind as possible, and I don't see it as a racist statement. There is more to this statement than meets the eye. Furthermore, I admit I'm not 100% colorblind. But I want to be.
What I mean by colorblind is being blind to a person's looks, but not who they are, not which cultures, subcultures, and social groups they belong to and are influenced by. To look beyond the superficial and explore the deeper, awesome insides that make us who we are. Because I think only focusing on how a person looks discounts someone's experience in social group if they don't necessarily look like the people we assume belong to the group.
One of the things I love about California is how half the time, you can't look at a person and know for sure what culture or social groups they identify with. You can never be too sure what a person is just by looking at their cover. And this is where you can open a dialog with people, learn about their experiences, and learn so much about the human condition from people who, might look like you, but were raised in a totally different environment. And I think that is AWESOME.
Because I agree that the best tool to combat racism is definitely not whitewashing everything and ignoring where a person came from. We are our environments, and to deny that is to live a lie. But I really don't like how people attack the term colorblind, because I don't think everyone is using the term to mean whitewashing everything, but instead to look deeper and see past the superficial details of a person, and really dig down into what makes our fellow peeps tick.
Because not all white people are the same. Not all Cubans are the same. Not all Italian-Americans are the same. And, furthermore (and this is a pet peeve and totally not related to social groups or any man made constructs, I just want to make it clear that I'm not lumping this in there), not all gay people are the same. But back to my rant-- why do we think that assigning something random like how we look is going to fundamentally define someone is a good idea?
That's why I feel strongly that communication, not labeling or whitewashing, is the best tool to combat racism. Acceptance of differences and recognizing that we are stronger for them. An openness to opening our eyes, and realize that what we thought about the world isn't a universal experience for everyone-- and a willingness to do what we can to make that universal experience possible. And above all else, a willing to learn from ANY social group or subculture or culture you encounter. I guess I just don't like labels, because they get misused too easily. Our frustrations turn the labels into stereotypes, and those are just a powder keg waiting to blow in our faces.
I guess it all boils down to one thing: I don't believe in individual races. I think humanity just comes in all sorts of interesting shapes, sizes, and colorations, and looking a certain way doesn't mean you are going to behave or be a certain way. Instead, the differences are man made, cultures and social groups that instill characteristics within their members, characteristics that I think are awesome and should be allowed to flourish. I mean, if we ALL had the same culture, we would all be the same! And how BORING is that? There would be no human progress. We'd just sit around twiddling our thumbs and watching the same boring shows and living the same boring lives!
The problem, I think, is how we look has been tied who we are, full stop, and I think unless we realize they are separate things, we can't move on.
Everything that is built on the premise that how you look makes you fundamentally different from someone else has to be ripped apart and re-created with the idea that we are all different, but each of us awesome, and it is those differences that make us stronger. And I think this idea is fundamentally tied in with our government: We are 50 very different states; we are stronger with our regional differences than if we all turned into New York City clones. And when we come together, as the human race, we are unstoppable. But when we concentrate on making our society or culture better at the expense of another, we fail.
And that is what I mean by being raised colorblind.
I came across an LJ entry of someone being upset with the statement "I was raised to be colorblind," and how racist it was. It got me thinking. Because, I *was* raised to be as colorblind as possible, and I don't see it as a racist statement. There is more to this statement than meets the eye. Furthermore, I admit I'm not 100% colorblind. But I want to be.
What I mean by colorblind is being blind to a person's looks, but not who they are, not which cultures, subcultures, and social groups they belong to and are influenced by. To look beyond the superficial and explore the deeper, awesome insides that make us who we are. Because I think only focusing on how a person looks discounts someone's experience in social group if they don't necessarily look like the people we assume belong to the group.
One of the things I love about California is how half the time, you can't look at a person and know for sure what culture or social groups they identify with. You can never be too sure what a person is just by looking at their cover. And this is where you can open a dialog with people, learn about their experiences, and learn so much about the human condition from people who, might look like you, but were raised in a totally different environment. And I think that is AWESOME.
Because I agree that the best tool to combat racism is definitely not whitewashing everything and ignoring where a person came from. We are our environments, and to deny that is to live a lie. But I really don't like how people attack the term colorblind, because I don't think everyone is using the term to mean whitewashing everything, but instead to look deeper and see past the superficial details of a person, and really dig down into what makes our fellow peeps tick.
Because not all white people are the same. Not all Cubans are the same. Not all Italian-Americans are the same. And, furthermore (and this is a pet peeve and totally not related to social groups or any man made constructs, I just want to make it clear that I'm not lumping this in there), not all gay people are the same. But back to my rant-- why do we think that assigning something random like how we look is going to fundamentally define someone is a good idea?
That's why I feel strongly that communication, not labeling or whitewashing, is the best tool to combat racism. Acceptance of differences and recognizing that we are stronger for them. An openness to opening our eyes, and realize that what we thought about the world isn't a universal experience for everyone-- and a willingness to do what we can to make that universal experience possible. And above all else, a willing to learn from ANY social group or subculture or culture you encounter. I guess I just don't like labels, because they get misused too easily. Our frustrations turn the labels into stereotypes, and those are just a powder keg waiting to blow in our faces.
I guess it all boils down to one thing: I don't believe in individual races. I think humanity just comes in all sorts of interesting shapes, sizes, and colorations, and looking a certain way doesn't mean you are going to behave or be a certain way. Instead, the differences are man made, cultures and social groups that instill characteristics within their members, characteristics that I think are awesome and should be allowed to flourish. I mean, if we ALL had the same culture, we would all be the same! And how BORING is that? There would be no human progress. We'd just sit around twiddling our thumbs and watching the same boring shows and living the same boring lives!
The problem, I think, is how we look has been tied who we are, full stop, and I think unless we realize they are separate things, we can't move on.
Everything that is built on the premise that how you look makes you fundamentally different from someone else has to be ripped apart and re-created with the idea that we are all different, but each of us awesome, and it is those differences that make us stronger. And I think this idea is fundamentally tied in with our government: We are 50 very different states; we are stronger with our regional differences than if we all turned into New York City clones. And when we come together, as the human race, we are unstoppable. But when we concentrate on making our society or culture better at the expense of another, we fail.
And that is what I mean by being raised colorblind.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 03:08 pm (UTC)It also tends to assume that ALL whitefokes are similarly colourblind, and that therefore any chromatic person pointing out racism is "just seeing things" (or, for extra points, "reverse racist").
While the original idea of "colourblind" is a pretty damn good one, like most good things it's gotten misinterpreted and corrupted.
You, however, seem to have gotten the original point pretty well, so that's awesome.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 10:33 pm (UTC)I think a lot of good ideas get corrupted by people trying to justify their own bad behaviors to themselves. Which makes me think I'd be better off coining a new term than using one already weighed down by a negative connotation. Especially since I tend to use the term to express why people should pay attention less to appearance as a whole-- color, gender, age, weight-- and more to the person themselves.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 11:29 pm (UTC)