“Racial ‘Colorblindness’ Is Silly”? – Stuart Buck links to an interesting piece by Leonard Pitts, Jr., a descendant of Mississippi slaves, arguing that “so-called colorblindness is neither possible nor even desirable.”
Actually, the headline is a bit of a come-on. He doesn’t defend affirmative action/racial preferences, which is what most opponents of colorblindness have in mind. Instead, he asserts that race is an important component of his identity, but only one component among many.
I’m also a man. I am a native of Southern California. I am a husband and a father. I am a comic-book geek. I am a Christian. I am in my 40s. I am a hope-to-die Lakers fan. I am, in other words, many things, each relevant to different circumstances and occasions.
….
Here’s what bothers me: No one has ever felt the need to not notice I’m from California. No one has ever made a point of not seeing me as Christian….
Given that each of us is a combination of many characteristics, why is it necessary to make such an ostentatious show of not seeing one: race? The unavoidable answer is race isn’t perceived like other characteristics….
Unfortunately, much of what passes for racial dialogue in this country is the chatter of two extremes: the Afrocentric-to-the-point-of-paranoia one that says race matters always, and the “colorblind” one that says it matters never.
In my view, race is like one of the characteristics Pitts mentioned: religion. And they are similar for the reasons Pitts mentions: they are form the core of identity for many people. Thoughtful advocates of colorblindness, like thoughtful advocates of neutrality regarding religion, i.e., religion-blindness, belive that it is precisely because those identity-forming features are so important that they should not be the bases for burdens or benefits, especially from the state. It is official notice that they (we) oppose, not personal notice.
Pitts recognizes as much when he concludes by saying that his view does not conflict with Martin Luther King’s famous hope that his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” As Pitts says, King
didn’t say avoid color, ignore color, pretend it doesn’t exist. The key to what he said lies in four words: “Not be judged by.”
