Comments on: Things You Need to Understand #5 – Color Blindness

By: annotating madness « it’s all one thing

annotating madness « it’s all one thing — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:21:16 +0000

[...] 4. Will schools the Angry Black Woman on Malcolm X’s colorblindness [...]

By: Oops...I need a name.

Oops...I need a name. — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:04:37 +0000

Every time I find a discussion that I would like to comment on, I’m usually a little too late. The first posts were done over a year ago, so I’m sorry.

The following short story highlights the fact that white privilege and discrimination exist in U.S. society, in case anyone reading this wants to deny it:

My uncle (who is white and a doctor) and his friend (who is black and a doctor) were each driving in separate vehicles and were both speeding. Both of them passed a police car. The police officer (who is white) turned on the lights and raced after the black man. Big surprise, huh? My uncle had to talk the police officer out of writing that ticket. I want to make it clear that the police officer had no intention of writing my uncle a ticket, even though he was clearly speeding. Racial profiling? How about blatant racial targeting?

(If this posts, I hope it doesn’t post twice. I forgot to fill in the name the first time. I need some sleep.)

By: Nancy Fulda

Nancy Fulda — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:21:02 +0000

I’d just like to say thanks for this post and for the ensuing conversation.

I’m another of those white people who grew up in a predominantly white community. Racism isn’t an issue that’s come up for me very frequently. Thanks for beginning my education.

By: Gender blind, right… at Feminist SF - The Blog!

Gender blind, right… at Feminist SF - The Blog! — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:51:55 +0000

[...] the gender blind argument is just about as valid as the color blind argument (as in: not so much). Secondly, it isn’t even that only one woman submitted, but [...]

By: Natoya

Natoya — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:34:46 +0000

‘about it a bit more’ sorry bad typing

By: Natoya

Natoya — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:33:53 +0000

they are still an ethnic minority fool, the mainstream is British white culture!
although..it does seem to be ‘cool’ to act like an ‘other’
make up your mind!
and angry black woman is right, those white people who say these things dont realyl understand because if they did they say things like ‘yes your black, so what?’ and admit their faults.
I personaly like it when someone admits their ignorance to me.
I just get into a discussion with them, hopefully they’re think it a bit more.

By: Natoya

Natoya — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:28:55 +0000

No one is colour blind.
We all judge.
Its just some of us make decisions to ignore the stereotypes.
and I try to do that.
being of ‘mixed race’ I have found that I can relate to lots of different people black or white. whether they can relate to me is another matter…..
but one thing I have noticed about a lot of young people growing up in London (my experience in inner city) is there is a large group of young people who all share the same consciousness of being a south londoner and are fully aware of racisms/stereotypes etc….this new hybrid culture exists amongst themselves and they blend their cultures together. It is often the outside world (family,society,class) that interfears.
But when I here white people saying for example someone at university said to me ‘if we started a society called white British society’ it would be accused of being racist’.
I just shake my head. I explain about marginalisation etccc..
but they feel like they’ve ‘done their bit’ by keeping quiet and not being racist, but the nfeel ucomfortable when the afrco carribean society spreads their power about

By: Jooswah

Jooswah — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:24:42 +0000

As I said in TYNTU #1, the idea that we should ignore the hundreds of years of colonial history where non-POC carefully and methodically placed themselves in positions of control, and then systematically drafted legislation to entrench that control; for a utopian colorblind society without examining first the root causes of this power imbalance is not productive IMO.

The arbitrary delineation of a “pre-civil rights” and “post civil rights” era do not take into account my ancestors experiences did not magically transform from terrible and oppressed to rosy and equitable overnight. Their pain lives in me, their dysfunctional childhood manifested itself in their poor parenting skills that lead to a self perpetuating cycle of abuse. Can I use my intellect, reason and heart to lift myself up and make a better world for myself? Yes I can. Can I forget about the hundreds of years of atrocities? Never. And even if I somehow manage to forgive the actions of the (not so distant) past I still have to endure the backlash of both good and bad intentioned people who won’t acknowledge their privilege or my lack of it.

One thing that has been on my mind since I started reading this thread is, “Why would we want to live in a colorblind society in the first place?” What about diversity? I shudder when I imagine a world where Margaret Cho, Youssou N’Dour, Noam Chomsky, Ani DiFranco, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Chuck D, Robbie Robertson and Elvis Presley were all the same blandness. It would be like eating bread and water for the rest of my life, blah.

By: “Colorblind” in race and art « it’s all one thing

“Colorblind” in race and art « it’s all one thing — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:09:28 +0000

[...] The Nice Black Woman, so you should expect her rhetoric to be strong. She has a short post titled Things You Need to Understand #5 – Color Blindness. Since it’s short and I’ll address it all, I’ll present it all (but it’s [...]

By: Lisa Harney

Lisa Harney — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:53:44 +0000

Just to clarify, I altered the above post’s title to “The Conflation of Gender and Racial Impersonation.” The person whose writing I was responding to didn’t actually resort to the “trans women are like performers in blackface” canard, and so it wasn’t really appropriate for me to call on that.

Apologies for the misstep.

Plus: This is a great post.