Social liberalism on racial issues in mid-twentieth century America derived from a critique of liberal theology and a rejection of political liberals's optimism and blindness on race. -- From The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition, by Thomas P. Slaughter
Some people pride themselves on their colorblind intentions. The idea is that we are all the same under the skin, so if we ignore skin color, we'll treat everyone fairly. But is anyone really colorblind? Consider this:
Do people who believe themselves to be colorblind even know if they have African American friends or loved ones? Or Latino friends or loved ones? Or Asian American friends or loved ones? How does that work? If you are colorblind, how would you know?
I'm an adoptive parent. My ancestry is European. The ancestry of my youngest child is African. I've learned a lot about racism from my youngest. Before adopting, I thought liberals were not racist. But what I'm learning is this: Many liberals believe themselves to be colorblind. And Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about and discussing transracial parenting. If a European American couple adopt a child of African ancestry, and they believe themselves to be colorblind, how do they respond when their eight-year-old child asks, "Why do white parents pretend they don't see black children?" Do they acknowledge that their child is experiencing something that they may know nothing about? Or do they explain to their child (wrongly) that their child is misinterpreting what they experienced? Or do they acknowledge that some parents are uncomfortable with African Americans? Do they talk about it?
This Psychology Today article, Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism, focuses on color blindness in psychological therapists. My belief, based on my parenting experience, is that most European American therapists are not qualified to treat African American children because they don't understand racism. Racism is a major stressor -- possibly the major stressor -- for many children of color living as a minority. If a therapist doesn't understand racism, they can't be very helpful.
As the article points out, colorblindness ignores the very real fact that, everywhere in the world, people whose ancestors come from a continent other than Europe have different experiences from people whose ancestors do come from Europe. How can you come to know someone -- how can you have genuine compassion for them -- how can you really love them -- if you ignore this basic fact? If you believe yourself to be colorblind, what do you do with this fact?
As I said, my ancestry is European. I know almost nothing about racism from personal experience. The one exception: I was in college, and an African American woman yelled at my male, African American friend, "What are doing with that cracker?!" That was the first time I had ever heard the term "cracker" to refer to people of European ancestry. And I was thinking "saltines". "Saltines?" I looked at my arm. "Well, that's about right." But she wasn't talking about saltines. She had confused me, but she hadn't hurt me. I felt badly for my friend, Jami, who really didn't need that. He had enough going on in his life.
What I really know about racism comes from the experience of loved ones -- friends and family -- and from being a part of the experience of loved ones. For example, my youngest child is more socially adept than my first born was in his school years, and more socially outgoing than my second was in hers. But my youngest's kindergarten dance card was unoccupied compared with my older two. With notable (I love you -- you know who you are!!) exceptions, most parents seemed uninterested in having their child play with my daughter outside of school. The most outrageous instance: My daughter played soccer in first grade. She had hit it off with this one child in particular. They seemed to have such a great time together! In my mind, I can still see the mid-game orange wedges stuffed in their mouths to make side-by-side orange smiles. The last game, I approached the mom: "Our girls seem to have a great time together! Shall we get them together some time for a play date?" The mom smiled sweetly, shook her head, and said "No." That was that. She, clearly, had not come to the advanced stage of "colorblindness". We had to face this family for the next five years at elementary school events. What does a colorblind person even do with this type of information? How does a person who believes themselves to be colorblind account for the effects of racism on people of color? Ignore it?
From what I hear from friends and loved ones, colorblindness generally means one does not see people of color. When these colorblind parents do see African American children, it is often African hair that grabs their attention -- "I like your hair! Who does your hair? Is it your mom?" From what I hear, it seems that colorblind people do not greet African American parents at Back-to-School night or at the elementary school sock hops or on field trips. They do not greet African American parents at sports practices or games. If an African American child happens to be a star on the team, European American parents are likely to interact directly with the child, but not the parents. If the child is not a star on the team, the whole family is ignored.
Let me tell you what I really think: Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism.
What to do if you have adopted the colorblind strategy toward people of color? I will address that in a future blog -- hopefully very soon.
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