Current Events > Is being "colorblind" racist?

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A coworker says "I don't care what the color of a persons skin is, treat me bad I'll treat you bad (and vice versa)"

Are they racist for being "colorblind"

This is in regards to interactions between them and individual people, not an entire race

Yes it's just a different way of saying you don't think racism exists.

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...are they white?

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Idk if it's racist, but it is surely dumb as fuck.

Edit: Once in a while, I joke about being unable to see race as a disability that prevents me from understanding any race related issues. "I wish I could understand what all this racism talk is about, but I just CAN'T see it!"

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Yes, its far better to obsess about race and only focus on our differences.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

Yes it's just a different way of saying you don't think racism exists.

Or it's a different way of saying you don't care as much about someone's race as racists do.

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I don't think it is at a personal level? Like, the person can respect everyone and treat everyone equally in their personal relations while acknowledging that at a greater societal level racism is still present.

edit: Just want to say I don't hear this frequently in real life or even see it that much online so I'm going off of the semantics more than anything else.

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In my experience, most people that say "I don't see color" have a lot of racist shit to say.

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Only racists think being colorblind is racist. Nobody else.

Not necessarily. But there are some people out there that use the "colorblind" excuse to ignore the problems that exist in minority communities.

thrashmetal14 posted...

Not necessarily. But there are some people out there that use the "colorblind" excuse to ignore the problems that exist in minority communities.

But that's not really colorblindness, that's just ignorance.

Annihilated posted...

But that's not really colorblindness, that's just ignorance.

Most of the time this is what "color blind" people come across as imo. Ostensibly it means not judging people by the color of their skin. In practice it seems to be a declaration of wilful ignorance.

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Being willfully blind to the importance of race in our society and the effect that it continues to have on people's lives is not some enlightened gesture. It's being willfully ignorant. It's not like these people actually don't see differences in skin color, mass incarceration, housing segregation etc. It's simply a statement that they don't care about these things and will ignore the elephant in the room in favor of treating people with a simplistic version of "equality." Our society is not and has never been race blind, so treating acting as if it is not helpful.

It's also interesting how no one applies the term virtue signaling to these "colorblind" people. They are loudly proclaiming how they don't see color and are just so not racist and better than other people who divide by acknowledging racism. Meanwhile, they don't help at all and actively hamper the people trying to help. That's virtue signaling 101.

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legendary_zell posted...

Being willfully blind to the importance of race in our society and the effect that it continues to have on people's lives is not some enlightened gesture. It's being willfully ignorant. It's not like these people actually don't see differences in skin color, mass incarceration, housing segregation etc. It's simply a statement that they don't care about these things and will ignore the elephant in the room in favor of treating people with a simplistic version of "equality." Our society is not and has never been race blind, so treating acting as if it is not helpful.

It's also interesting how no one applies the term virtue signaling to these "colorblind" people. They are loudly proclaiming how they don't see color and are just so not racist and better than other people who divide by acknowledging racism. Meanwhile, they don't help at all and actively hamper the people trying to help. That's virtue signaling 101.

I mean, there's a difference between being colorblind in daily life and being colorblind in political circumstances. If I'm just interacting with different people in normal day-to-day situations I'm not really gonna be thinking about their skin color.

thrashmetal14 posted...

I mean, there's a difference between being colorblind in daily life and being colorblind in political circumstances. If I'm just interacting with different people in normal day-to-day situations I'm not really gonna be thinking about their skin color.

While political colorblindness is even worse, interpersonal colorblindness isn't great either. The key should be to treat people appropriately and well, not to ignore characteristics that do unfortunately matter. Even on an interpersonal level, race is one of the most salient factors in our society and ignoring that is going to get you into trouble. It's harder to figure out when you should take it into account and when it's not as relevant, but that's what's necessary.

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legendary_zell posted...

While political colorblindness is even worse, interpersonal colorblindness isn't great either. The key should be to treat people appropriately and well, not to ignore characteristics that do unfortunately matter. Even on an interpersonal level, race is one of the most salient factors in our society and ignoring that is going to get you into trouble. It's harder to figure out when you should take it into account and when it's not as relevant, but that's what's necessary.

However if you acknowledge that someone is black, some people will call you racist for "caring that I'm/they're black"

Being colorblind ignores generations of racial history that have put minorities behind the 8 ball, so

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It's one of those statements that means a million different things depending on who is saying it and who is interpreting it. Being neutral to race is how everyone should be. Though I think some people interpret that as being ignorant to racial aspects of life. That may be true for some, but for others it just means they don't see race as anything major coming up in their everyday lives. There are in fact people everywhere on earth where it is a factor in their everyday lives, but we also seem to have a subset of people who want to insert race into everything as well. There's plenty of ways to have an honest discussion about it, but it seems like people rarely want to bother when they can much more easily scathingly judge each other instead.

Whites are often colorblind to blackness, while touting the privilege acquired by acknowledging their white skin.

When a white person says they don't see color, they mean that they're not acknowledging the stigmas attached to your skin, and are mentally and emotionally removed from entertaining the struggles a person of color experiences.

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Everything is racist these days... To me colorblind doesn't actually mean I don't see skin color but, a belief we're all human. We think, we feel, and maybe we have cultural,political or colored differences but we all have the basic needs//wants/desires etc.

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MachineJaipur posted...

However if you acknowledge that someone is black, some people will call you racist for "caring that I'm/they're black"

Whether that's true or false depends entirely on the circumstances and context. Acknowledging someone's race in the abstract isn't racist. But bringing it up when it's not relevant may be. For example, making a big deal about having a black friend may be racist, but acknowledging that your black friend has strong opinions on what confederate monuments mean and deferring to those opinions isn't.

One is using the black friend as a tool to prove non-racism, the other is acknowledging something fundamentally related to blackness in America.

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To me, I find being 'colourblind' as a sign of insecurity in acknowledging ethnicities. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that a person is of a certain race as long as you don't have racist intentions.

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Nowhere close to racist. Anyone who can see beyond race is miles ahead of the game. Its pretty disturbing that so many people think that not focusing on race makes you a racist.

Judging a person based on their character, not their melanin amount aka skin color being as unimportant as hair color in society was the initial goal of colorblindness

Like racism, the definition for colorblindness has changed definition because intersectional race theory requires the continued recognition of race, not the deconstruction of it.

There are also groups that do not want to drop their racial identities because they take pride in it.

I don't think they are racist, but often feels like they are making SURE you know that rather than putting in effort to fix the issues.

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KStateKing17 posted...

In my experience, most people that say "I don't see color" have a lot of racist shit to say.

wxactly this. Its the same as Im not racist, I hate everyone equally. these people usually are pretty fucking racist

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Everything is racist now so most of the time I don't give a shit

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Garioshi posted...

Being colorblind ignores generations of racial history that have put minorities behind the 8 ball, so

Being anti-colorblind ignores generations of racial history and erases generations of social progress.

That's how the French government operates.

And if you don't believe me, try to get census info on demographics from there, there is nothing official, it's all estimates.

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Annihilated posted...

Being anti-colorblind ignores generations of racial history and erases generations of social progress.

No, it doesn't. it acknowledges it

Jabodie posted...

Idk if it's racist, but it is surely dumb as fuck.

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tm315 posted...

No, it doesn't. it acknowledges it

Doing the exact same shit you're protesting against does not acknowledge it.

Annihilated posted...

Doing the exact same shit you're protesting against does not acknowledge it.

I agree

legendary_zell posted...

While political colorblindness is even worse, interpersonal colorblindness isn't great either. The key should be to treat people appropriately and well, not to ignore characteristics that do unfortunately matter. Even on an interpersonal level, race is one of the most salient factors in our society and ignoring that is going to get you into trouble. It's harder to figure out when you should take it into account and when it's not as relevant, but that's what's necessary.

So how exactly do you expect people to act toward people of different ethnicities in their personal life? I have many friends/acquaintances/co workers that have a different skin color than me, and I treat everyone equally (that is, with basic respect). Am I supposed to treat different people differently based on their race?

Annihilated posted...

Doing the exact same shit you're protesting against does not acknowledge it.

We are protesting against systems of racial oppression. Acknowledging racial oppression is not a system of racial oppression. Not unrelatedly, ignoring that racial oppression bakes it in.

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legendary_zell posted...

We are protesting against systems of racial oppression. Acknowledging racial oppression is not a system of racial oppression. Not unrelatedly, ignoring that racial oppression bakes it in.

The only system of racial bias I've ever seen is affirmative action. Everything else seems to be looking for inequality and assuming racism is the reason. Whenever it's found to not be the reason, they just look for the next unknown and assume racism again. Kind of like how religious people used to explain everything they didn't understand as "God did it."

thrashmetal14 posted...

So how exactly do you expect people to act toward people of different ethnicities in their personal life? I have many friends/acquaintances/co workers that have a different skin color than me, and I treat everyone equally (that is, with basic respect). Am I supposed to treat different people differently based on their race?

Most of the time, no, at some important times, yes. I already gave an example in this topic. You should treat people as who they are, not just as palette swapped white people. It's about acknowledging that people of color have different histories, different backgrounds, and that those often inform how we see the world. So again, for example if you're having an discussion with your X friend about confederate memorials or the confederate flag, you may say the same words, but they will likely have a different effect depending on the history of the person you're speaking with. So it's important to know that person specifically, I'm not telling you to treat people as racial hiveminds and representatives for their race. But it's very important to acknowledge that how people move through the world and how they interpret things is very much informed by race and that doesn't go away by not acknowledging it.

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Annihilated posted...

The only system of racial bias I've ever seen is affirmative action. Everything else seems to be looking for inequality and assuming racism is the reason. Whenever it's found to not be the reason, they just look for the next unknown and assume racism again. Kind of like how religious people used to explain everything they didn't understand as "God did it."

That says quite a lot about you. In a world of schools as segregated as they were in the 60s, a huge racial wealth gap, mass incarceration, a biased criminal justice system, voter suppression, environmental poisoning, and countless other issues, AA is the only racial bias you see? Blindness is a great way to describe that.

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legendary_zell posted...

That says quite a lot about you. In a world of schools as segregated as they were in the 60s, a huge racial wealth gap, mass incarceration, a biased criminal justice system, voter suppression, environmental poisoning, and countless other issues, AA is the only racial bias you see? Blindness is a great way to describe that.

You basically demonstrated exactly what I was saying.

Not everyone of the same race think the same on racial issues and it's racist to assume they do.

RoadsterUFO posted...

I do not see color

Completely irrelevant to what I said. You know you made a solid point when the only rebuttal you get is a hateful picture which is blatant anti white propaganda.

When did equality become a bad thing to you guys? You dont even make sense.

RustyFerret posted...

Not everyone of the same race think the same on racial issues and it's racist to assume they do.

So it's important to know that person specifically, I'm not telling you to treat people as racial hiveminds and representatives for their race.

I already preemptively addressed this.

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Not being racist is racist apparently

Annihilated posted...

You basically demonstrated exactly what I was saying.

Please demonstrate to me how race based voter suppression and race based housing and school segregation are not systems of racial oppression?

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ohiostate124 posted...

Not being racist is racist apparently

Some of the points made in this topic I can see why being colorblind can come across as being, at minimum, insensitive

legendary_zell posted...

Please demonstrate to me how race based voter suppression and race based housing and school segregation are not systems of racial oppression?

Race based voter suppression does not exist and school segregation has been illegal since the 60s, unless you're including college campuses who try to segregate graduations, housing, and other things. That of course is systemic racism, but nobody talks about that because they condone it.

Annihilated posted...

Race based voter suppression does not exist

Lmao

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