How I Met Your Mother is one of my favorite shows. It is one of the most well-written shows that could have ever existed in my opinion (other than the ending). I pretty much always watch the show, and I usually put in on the background even if I’m doing something else. However, I did notice one flaw. One small detail that I think was pretty unnecessary.
It was in two episodes that I can remember while writing this where this one detail occurred. In season two episode ten, titled ‘Single Stamina’, Barney’s gay, black brother came to visit them. Robin has never met Barney’s brother, James, so when Ted is telling her about James and that he’s gay, Ted leaves out that he’s black. When Robin meets James and questions Ted about, he says “I guess I’m the type of person who focuses who people are on the inside, rather than the color on their skin”. A similar event happened in season eight episode ten, titled ‘The Over-Correction’. While Robin tries to get Barney’s “Playbook” to show his girlfriend, Ted distracts Barney to leave his apartment by saying Hugh Hefner is in his apartment’s lobby, only to find out it wasn’t, but instead it was a black man. Barney questioned how he could even confuse him, to which Ted responded with “I guess I just don’t notice that kind of stuff”.
I know the show is supposed to be comedy, and it is all supposed to be a joke. I’m not trying to put negative comments on this show as it’s one of my favorites, but there is still a real dangerous issue with saying something along the lines of this.
At first glance, saying “I don’t see color” or “I don’t see race” may seem right or noble, but it’s not. When you say you choose not to acknowledge color, you’re basically hiding your racism. You may not think a person being of color is not the most important part about them, but when you say that, you’re rejecting the fact that people of color have been discriminated against and attacked for the color of their skin. We call this little act being colorblind.
Being colorblind to race erases experiences and culture. Different people of different color do in fact live through life in their own way. I, as a Mexican-American women with brown skin, would experience life distinctly from a Spaniard woman with light skin. You need to see color because their skin color does represent who they are. Their race tells you about their culture, traditions, and important parts of a person’s life. Don’t wash away color because that would be washing away the fact that there is still racism in the world, and as people together, we need to realize that race is important. Having an open discussion about colorblindness is important to progress into a better society.
So, next time someone tells you that they don’t see color, never forget to remind them that you are your skin color and proud of it. I am proud to be brown, just as I am proud to be Mexican.
