Colourblindness

Why “colourblindness” is a bad thing

“I don’t see colour man, I just see people.”

That’s something I’ve definitely heard before. Racial avoiding comments like this have a name: colourblindness.

So, what exactly is “colourblindness”? Colorblindness is the racial ideology that suggests the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity. It is the assumption that race is irrelevant in modern society.

Great, so what’s the problem? Well, where to begin…

Colourblindness makes race a taboo subject to talk about. Michael I. Norton, an associate professor of Harvard Business School, used a game similar to “Guess Who?” in his recent research. The participants were given this game card. They were asked to pick a person that their partner was to guess by asking questions that could only be answered with a “yes” or “no.

 Only 57% of people playing with white partners used the word “black” or “African-American” while playing the game. Why were people reluctant to mention race? “It appears as though they feel that by asking about race, it may signal that they are racist.” Even though the array of faces were half white and half black, people were very hesitant to mention race in their questions. 

As YouTuber Marinashutup suggests, this reluctance to talk about race comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of what racism is. It isn’t racist to notice race. But saying things like “Oh, you don’t seem like a black person” – meaning that person defies societal expectations of what that race should be…then that’s racist!

Colourblindness denies people of colour’s identities and experiences, and erases their history. It assumes that racial prejudice doesn’t exist. When in actual fact, it does.

A person not participating in individual racism doesn’t get rid of institutions that disadvantage people of colour e.g. the criminal justice system. Acts of individual racism build up, and create institutional racism. In the US, black men are more likely to be racially profiled and stopped by law enforcement, and are more likely to experience police brutality.

Even though white people commit equal amounts of crime to people of colour, the disproportionate stopping of black men leads to higher rates of arrest and mass incarceration. Police brutality against black people leads to unjust murders committed by the police. We all know about the #blacklivesmatter movement, and the Ferguson unrest right? Colourblindess ideology basically says that it doesn’t matter how many black men are killed by the hands of the law, race is irrelevant. And that’s messed up.

Going around saying that “We’re all one race, the human race” doesn’t solve institutional racism. If talking about race is taboo, then how are we going to question and challenge institutional racism?

As I’ve said, colourblindness denies people of colour’s identities, experiences and histories. Tim Wise mentioned a study done in the early 2000s. Only 6% of white Americans believed that racial discrimination of people of colour was a significant national problem. Another study showed that 12% of white Americans believed that Elvis Presley might still be alive. Yep…

That small percentage of white Americans acknowledging racial oppression was reflected in another study done in the 1960s. There is denial in every generation.

“Members of the dominant group have said there is no problem, and in every generation, without fail, we have been wrong. And in every generation people of colour have been telling us that there is a problem, and in every generation, without fail, they have been right.” (Tim Wise)

White people have the luxury of not knowing black and brown truth, because they don’t have to know. This is white privilege.

People who legitimately believe that colourblindness is a good thing are in denial. Colourblindness operates under the assumption that we are living in a world that is “post-race”, where race no longer matters, when in fact it is still a prevalent issue. What we need to move towards is colourconsciousness. We need to acknowledge that race plays a significant role in our everyday lives.