Anyone who has any basic knowledge of American history knows that race relations between black people and white people have been a controversial topic of discussion from day one. Yes, over the past few decades things have improved, since now, in the eyes of the law, we are deemed equal human beings, but obviously there is room for improvement. As a young black American, one of my biggest problems with my generation are the people who claim to not see race.
This statement alone is extremely problematic to me for so many reasons. First, the obvious fact is that for the better half of American history, the blackness of my people was the first thing anyone wanted to see. When we were forcibly brought this country to kick-start the American economy for greedy Europeans, the biggest defining physical difference between them and us was our skin color. That was the easiest way to differentiate who was considered a human being and who was considered a piece of livestock.
This continued for centuries. From The Three-Fifths Compromise to every Jim Crow law, the amount of melanin in your skin determined the quality of your life. Even today, in 2016, this is accurate. Even if you want to believe that we live in a world where everyone is treated equally, I will tell you from my own personal experience that is not the case. That being said, now that we are trying to move towards racial equality, the “colorblind” comments are just an example of white privilege at its finest.
First off, this belief that you can one day decide not to “see color” implies that throughout history, white people have the power to choose when it’s appropriate to treat someone differently because of the color of their skin. Secondly, when have you ever heard a black person say that they don’t want you to notice that they’re black? MLK didn’t die to have our blackness stripped from us to make you comfortable about the atrocity of your people’s past. The fact that you feel that eliminating blackness is a solution to racism is white privilege.
Also, in my eyes, “not seeing race” just isn’t fair. After all these years, all these marches, all these deaths, and all this new legislation, I can’t be black and proud? Now we have to be raceless? Man, what? I want everyone to see me as a black woman. To me, there is nothing wrong with that, because that is who I am. I want you to see my brown sugar skin and kinky hair. I want you to see my big brown eyes and beautiful nose. I want you to see that I am the offspring of the strongest Africans to survive the slave trade. Yes, read that again. Statistics show that at least 2 million Africans died during the Middle Passage to the Atlantic. That does not count how many died once reaching the New World or those who died during the process of being forced out of Africa. I, and every other black person you meet, am a descendant of someone who survived that holocaust. So yes, please see my blackness, because I am proud.
