Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
I'm not offering mutually exclusive ways of viewing racism and ethnic bigotry. I'm offering complimentary views.
Practically, everybody needs to recognize the obvious fact that racism and ethnic bigotry make minorities into second class citizens.
Ideally, conceptually, however, I believe it is not only fair but important to say that, while we must take that practical step, the ultimate goal must always be color/ethnicity-blindness.
The former's necessary in the immediate, the latter the long term goal. And inevitably, the latter is how it will all get fixed. Ten or fifteen generations from now people here are going to have blended so much that the noticeable physical differences on which we've arbitrarily and unfairly judged people will be slight to the point that recognizing them at all would seem odd.
|
I think we've had this conversation before.
Racism exists because people treat people of color differently than they treat white people. It's built-in to our society, and it's systemic, institutional, cultural. Having a goal of a color-blind society makes no sense until there is no racism. And if there is no racism, there is no need for color-blindness because people will be treated equally.
Since there is racism (and there will always be racism), what I'm telling you is that most white people use the idea of being blind-to-color as a shield to protect themselves from acknowledging, understanding, and dealing with their own racism. "I'm colorblind, therefore I'm a
good person. And only
bad people are racist. End of discussion."
That's how it works.
TM
