Colorblindness

[[File:The onion colorblind.jpg|thumb|right|How it happens, according to [[The Onion]].]]
{{race}}
{{cquote|I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.|||[[Martin Luther King|Martin Luther King Jr.]]}}

{{cquote|I don't see race. People tell me I'm white, and I believe them because security doesn't follow me all around the Home Depot.|||[[Stephen Colbert]]}}

'''Colorblindness''' is the refusal to acknowledge [[race|racial identity]] and the significance of race in how one is perceived by society. It is ostensibly rooted in a desire to eradicate [[racism]], treating the concept of race as a form of [[bigotry]] that only perpetuates racism. Similar behavior exists for other axes of oppression as gender-blindness, sexual-orientation-blindness, etc.  However, critics claim that colorblind policies contribute to racism rather than ending it.

==Problems with "colorblindness"==
The problem is that it is based on the assumption that problems will disappear if they are ignored. In extreme cases, a person who appears to be behaving in a racist manner may tell the person noticing their racist behaviour "you're the ''real'' racist!" as if labeling antisocial behaviour is worse than the antisocial behaviour.

While in an ideal world, to quote [[Bob Marley]], the "colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes,"<ref group=note>More specifically, to quote Bob Marley quoting Haile Selassie.</ref> in the real world, racial identity remains a key determinant of the quality of a person's life. Colorblindness provides easy cover for people to claim that in a "post-racial" society, the social effects of racism (such as lower incomes, increased rates of incarceration, police violence directed at particular groups) are the fault of the victims, and not evidence of how racism is still very much alive. 

An example of this tendency in action was the move to counter the rise of [[Black Lives Matter]] with "All Lives Matter". While this appears to be a call to treat all people equally, it in fact obscures the potentially and often violent racism specifically targeting African-Americans that spawned the sentiment in the first place.<ref>Reddit user GeekAesthete explains why countering "Black lives matter" with "All lives matter" is problematic [https://www.reddit.com/comments/3du1qm/ here].</ref> 

While bigots often do recognize race, deliberately ignoring it doesn't lead to better results.<ref>''Psychology Today'', [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culturally-speaking/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism]</ref><ref>''Everyday Feminism'', [http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/02/colorblindness-adds-to-racism/ 7 Reasons Why ‘Colorblindness’ Contributes to Racism Instead of Solves It]</ref>

The problem with claiming colorblindness (and its equivalents) is that in practice, it leads to more marginalization. [[Racism|The racial elite of an area]] can easily be [[privilege]]-blind, whatever good intentions they have, and can be unwilling &mdash; perhaps even unable &mdash; to recognise the problems of those outside their own advantaged group. If such problems are not addressed, they will persist.

Colorblindness is a good virtue for the truly post-racial ''future'' (assuming that we will even have a truly post-racial future, which is not guaranteed). But the ''present'' isn't ready for it yet. Although race is a social construct, it still needs to acknowledged in order to recognize when racism occurs.

==Other definition of colorblindness==
Colorblindness as it refers to race should not be confused with the medical condition that impacts how a person perceives the visible spectrum of light. Colorblindness is caused by a gene on the X chromosome, meaning it is significantly more common in males (about one in twelve) than females (about one in 200). Colorblindness manifests most commonly in the inability to distinguish greens and reds, though note that this also means that colors like blue and purple can also be confused due to the inability to see the red element of purple.<ref>[https://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/ About Colour Blindness], ''Colour Blind Awareness''</ref>

==See also==
* [[Abolition of gender]]
* [[Race realism]]

==External links==
* {{wpa|Color blindness (race) in the United States|Color blindness (race) in the United States}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Denialism]]
[[Category:Disability]]
[[Category:Identity politics]]
[[Category:Racism]]

Categories: Denialism, Disability, Identity politics, Racism