DEI Alternative Facts #9: “I don’t see color”

When I hear statements like this, I know it is coming from a good place with good intentions, & now let’s consider the impact:

1. Colour-blind racism or difference-blind ideologies are examples of racism & oppression’s ability to adapt to cultural changes, & according to these ideologies, if we pretend not to notice race, then there can be no racism.

2. Consider these ideologies from the perspective of a person of color or someone who needs to take an elevator: If you don’t see colour, for example, do you not see people of color? Are you denying their reality & challenges?

3. If you don’t see color, how do you buy paint? Do you hang with Alabaster, Ivory & Porcelain? 😉

If you don’t see colour, how will you see racism?

Color-blind/difference-blind ideologies make it challenging for us to address harmful practices, & while the idea of color blindness may have started out as a well-intentioned strategy for interrupting oppression, in practice it has served to deny the reality of racism & oppression, & thus holds these harmful practices in place.

We cannot change what we refuse to see & acknowledge. If you cannot name your problem, how can you solve it?