Going Colorblind

"On the other hand, the younger generation confuses talking about race with being racist, she said. 'We all grew up in the '80s with the PC police on high alert and we don't know how to talk about it anymore," she said. "We need to be able to talk about it.'" -- "Colorblind" Generation Struggles with Race, Haley Edwards

   This quote, I feel gets to the root of the problem with race in the United States. When I was growing up in the 1990s everything was hyper-sensitized and political correctness was "in." As a result talking about race was about as comfortable as walking through a land mine field with snow shoes on. Anyone who was black was African American, regardless of whether they were from a country in Africa or not. No one inquired. Teachers trumpeted the fact that everyone was exactly the same, which I believe lead to an ignorance about black culture. Black culture was effectively wiped from any curriculum along with any other ethnicities and their cultural ties. I remember once for St. Patrick's Day the teacher made everyone put an "O" in front of their last name, to "get in the spirit" as she said. A few black people, jewish people, and myself (hispanic) protested. It did not seem to phase our teacher and for the rest of the day I was referred to as Kat O'Salazar. Ridiculous. 


   While our teacher certainly didn't mean to offend anyone, and did not realize the negative affects of her colorblindness, she was accomplishing two things with her little St. Patrick's Day game. First, she was throwing everyone onto a level ethnic playing field and disregarding their own cultural identities. Second, she was trivializing a culturally rich holiday and creating a stereotype. Instead of teaching use what Irish culture/identity consisted of, she was teaching us that anyone with a last name starting with an "O" was Irish. 

   Americans make the assumption that cultural identity can be equalized and ignored but in doing so racial slurs only end up morphing and growing. When we choose to ignore race in public discourse and between one another, what different races from our own consist of has to be made up by ourselves instead of amongst different perspectives. A white person cannot simply inquire into what it's like to be Muslim or Mexican or Moreman or African American in America without seeming to be interested in pidgeon-holing the interviewee into a racial stereotype. 


   Racism becomes just as hard to talk about if you are a white person than if you were black. If you're white you already have a 50% chance in the eyes of others, to be racist. If you're black and make a racial comment you are often not as criticized by peers, Amy Olson expresses this frustration for white people trying not to be perceived as racist, "'sometimes I put my foot in my mouth,' she said. 'If I say "black" they say, "It's African-American." Or my dad works with a lot of Native Americans, and he says they like to be called "Indian." So I never know what's right."'

   Reflecting on the 1990's nostalgically I remember the way predominately white television shows would guiltily throw a black character in, even in a nonsensical way, in order to seem non-racist and colorblind. This caused a lot of eye rolls for audiences who were acutely aware of the ploy, particularly in the case of the popular Boy Meets World. Boy Meets World was a popular family/teen show that centered around the young Corey Matthews and his family and friends as he grows up. The cast was exclusively white up until Season 5 when Angela Moore is introduced and becomes Shawn's first serious girlfriend. While Angela interacts with the other white characters no mention of her being different than them racially is made at all. Few comments about race are made at all. While Shawn is a very white-American boy dating a black girl, the two have no problems carrying on a mixed race courtship and neither of them are faced with any of the societal obstacles that would likely occur in real life. The only comments ever made in reference to Angela's blackness is when the group is sitting around chatting about what their "soap opera names" would be (this show had a large child/adolescent audience so discussing "stripper names" would be inappropriate) with the rules being that you take your middle name and follow it by your street name (for example: I would be "Patricia Loma"). Each person in the group goes around saying what their name would be and then it's Angela's turn: "Well then my name would be Shaniqua Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard..." She chuckles to herself and waits for everyone to laugh but the friends all just sit quietly, not understanding, "Boy, I've gotta get some black friends," she finishes. Another comment in regard to Angela's getting an A on a paper is made, "What was your paper on?" one friend asks, "How to maintain a black identity when you have three very white friends," she replies sarcastically.


   While I understand the reasoning behind wanting to remain "colorblind" and believing that everyone should be on an equal and race-less playing field, I do not believe it does well to help eliminate racism and is only an excuse for ignoring the problem. People should not have to divorce themselves from their race, heritage, culture, or ethnicity in order to be accepted into society, instead, society should make the effort to recognize all the interesting differences between people and appreciate them as positives to a person's identity, not negatives.