Dear good-hearted, kind, well-meaning White people, I have to tell you something: Being color blind won’t stop racism.

Do not tell me you’re color blind anymore. Please. With the racial strife that continues to afflict our nation, I have heard this sentiment a lot. Too much.

“I don’t see race,” you say.

“I’m color blind,” you say.

“I don’t even think of you as Black,” you say.

Stop Avoiding Race

I’ve been silent too long and allowed you to get by avoiding the topic of race. I need you to know something: your ‘color blindness’ invalidates my identity. It gives you the impression that your “liberal-ness” absolves any latent racism you may have. It doesn’t

See me! View my color! Observe my curly hair, and my tan skin and all the other physical characteristics that define me as being Black. If you don’t see all of me, it’s as if I’m not worthy to be seen.

I’ve been thinking about this for awhile, trying to decide how I should explain myself in a way you can understand. However I can’t wait anymore. I can’t be silent anymore. This subject of race is one I know well. I feel strongly I should offer you a viewpoint culled from experiences that may be different than your own. Friend, here are six things I want you to know that may help to stop racism.

6 Reasons Being Color Blind Won’t Stop Racism

1. Being color blind erases part of my identity.

Saying you are color blind, that we should all be color blind, is easy to say when you are part of the majority. Telling me to stop “dividing myself” is easy to say when you are part of the default race/culture. Telling me to stop calling myself Black invalidates my experiences, both the good and the bad. It erases part of my identity. It makes me feel inferior.

By not seeing race, you are forcing me to swallow my stories, my pride, my identity around you. You are telling me to eradicate part of the essence of who I am. You are telling me to erase the DAILY racism I encounter, both the microaggressions and outright displays. Being color blind puts the onus on me and other people of color to stop talking about what we live on a daily basis. Don’t ask me to do that.

2. Being color blind makes it easier for you to avoid dealing with race.

I’ll say this as delicately as I can. You have the privilege to CHOOSE to ignore race. You are not forced to deal with it. I don’t have that privilege. Advocating color blindness makes this much easier for you to continue to avoid conversations about race.

You can feel justified and righteous in your position. Erasing race makes things much more palatable for those who aren’t comfortable dealing with it anyway. You’re a good person. You mean well. But it’s OK to be uncomfortable. Sit with it.

3. Being color blind makes me feel invisible.

This may be difficult for me to communicate in a way that makes sense, but when you say you are color blind I feel invisible. I feel part of the core of my identity is invalidated.

Even Newt Gingrich agrees with me. He said in an interview in 2016: “If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America….You instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.”

I believe this to be true and something I want you, my friend, to understand. Denying race means not just under-estimating the plight of being black in America but denying it exists at all.

4. Being color blind makes it seem that it’s bad to be different.

I understand that the concept of race is a social construct and that we are all children of God. I love that and believe it. The reality though is that we are all different too. We are all unique. We are all special. I have a difficult time seeing how those things are incongruous with each other. We can be different and still get along. Celebrating our differences might help us get along better actually.

5. Being color blind is just a way to avoid talking about hard subjects.

Being color blind does not stop racism. To erase racism, we should talk about it, not ignore it. To erase racism, we should embrace each other despite our differences. We should love and admire and respect each other despite our unique stories and backgrounds, despite our varied nationalities, ethnicities, and languages. Refusing to acknowledge race allows us to ignore the insidious manifestations of discrimination, prejudice and racism that are still prevalent today.

6. Being color blind denies racism is real and present.

In case you doubted it, racism is real. The protests from Minneapolis to coastal Georgia to Baltimore to Chicago should at least help you understand that Black people are angry. Racism is underneath that anger.

Racism affects my life on a daily basis. And, it has for most of my life. It is something I carry around with me, always aware of it, always conscious of it. I understand you may have felt like a minority at one time and you may have been judged by the color of your skin too. That sucks. This, though, isn’t about you!  The truth is I have forgotten more experiences of racism than you will ever experience. 

Having experienced racism doesn’t make me “better” and I shouldn’t get a prize, but it does color my story. By not seeing race, it makes it easy to ignore the experiences myself and other people of color have to deal with each day. I wonder if we can be different, unique, but also be equal? Is it possible that celebrating differences, rather than erasing them, is the path toward love, understanding, and the beginning of the way to stop racism.

Thank you.

I want to end with appreciation for having the courage to read this letter and to discuss race at all. I have a wonderful tapestry of people in my life, all with unique experiences woven into it. It is brave to work toward uniting us. Thank you for your efforts.

I pray that this blog post is received in the intention in which it was written, which is with love. I have faith, though it is shaky, that we can stop racism together.

For some more background by smarter people, here is an article from Psychology Today regarding the idea of being color blind.