<happykitten rant>
I've noticed that recentnly, there have been a significant number of threads dealing with the issue of race. I've heard a lot of people voice the opinion: "I don't care if he's black, white, green, or purple-I'm going to judge him by his job performance and the kind of person he is!" Statements like that (from people who follow a "color-blind" ideology) promote the idea that race shouldn't affect the way people are treated, and should therefore be disregarded and even ignored completely.
I suppose this view may be appropriate at times, but overall, I think it can be harmful and dangerous. Why?
First of all, in schools, the workplace, etc., the values of getting to know about other cultures and learning to live and work alongside culturally different people are very important. Maintaining a color-blind ideology keeps people from enriching their perspectives and capitalizing on their cultural diversity.
Secondly, a color-blind way of thinking desensitizes members of a domimant group to the value placed on group membership by members of minority or disadvantaged groups (exemplified by people who are annoyed and ask things like: "Why does BET exist?" "Why is it okay to have an Asian Student Association on campus and not a White Student Association?" etc., etc.). There has been research done that shows many White Americans proudly state they look at the world through a "color-blind" lens, refusing (with apparent sincerity) to even recognize that Whites, Blacks, Asians, etc. differ in important ways. Yet the blacks and Asians in the same research done regarded their group membership as meaningful and important to them. Based on their life experiences, most of them believed that race DOES matter in America, and used their group membership as a source of pride.
From this perspective, color-blindness denies an important social identity and may even be taken as a demand for assimilation. It would be an unfair practice for members of minority groups to adapt to the values and customs of the dominant White group.
A balance is required... members of different groups should be able to share common goals, work together, and maintain their own group memberships as sources of identity and self esteem at the same time. Even though it might sound appealing, "color-blindness" is a way of thinking that denies both the reality and the value of group differences and is not the answer to conflict and misunderstanding between different people.
</happykitten rant>
I've noticed that recentnly, there have been a significant number of threads dealing with the issue of race. I've heard a lot of people voice the opinion: "I don't care if he's black, white, green, or purple-I'm going to judge him by his job performance and the kind of person he is!" Statements like that (from people who follow a "color-blind" ideology) promote the idea that race shouldn't affect the way people are treated, and should therefore be disregarded and even ignored completely.
I suppose this view may be appropriate at times, but overall, I think it can be harmful and dangerous. Why?
First of all, in schools, the workplace, etc., the values of getting to know about other cultures and learning to live and work alongside culturally different people are very important. Maintaining a color-blind ideology keeps people from enriching their perspectives and capitalizing on their cultural diversity.
Secondly, a color-blind way of thinking desensitizes members of a domimant group to the value placed on group membership by members of minority or disadvantaged groups (exemplified by people who are annoyed and ask things like: "Why does BET exist?" "Why is it okay to have an Asian Student Association on campus and not a White Student Association?" etc., etc.). There has been research done that shows many White Americans proudly state they look at the world through a "color-blind" lens, refusing (with apparent sincerity) to even recognize that Whites, Blacks, Asians, etc. differ in important ways. Yet the blacks and Asians in the same research done regarded their group membership as meaningful and important to them. Based on their life experiences, most of them believed that race DOES matter in America, and used their group membership as a source of pride.
From this perspective, color-blindness denies an important social identity and may even be taken as a demand for assimilation. It would be an unfair practice for members of minority groups to adapt to the values and customs of the dominant White group.
A balance is required... members of different groups should be able to share common goals, work together, and maintain their own group memberships as sources of identity and self esteem at the same time. Even though it might sound appealing, "color-blindness" is a way of thinking that denies both the reality and the value of group differences and is not the answer to conflict and misunderstanding between different people.
</happykitten rant>
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