I recently had a conversation with someone, who thought they solved racism with one simple statement: “I don’t see color.” All you’re doing is engaging in denial. While to you this sounds like your idea of racial equality, it is only representative of the bias in how you experience systematic racism. By making this statement, you might as well just say that your white privilege has made you ignorant to the still existing social inequalities that people of color face daily. You’re saying that your experience is no different than the experience of a person of color, therefore discounting what people of color have had to, and continue to, prevail through. The color of your skin does not feel relevant to you because it hasn’t oppressed you, but people of color are reminded of their skin every day. Color DOES exist, we are not all one race… so get that out of your head. Saying that you don’t see color stops us from having the conversations that really matter. This is the time for you to recognize your privilege; we cannot take steps in changing social inequality if we are under the impression that it doesn’t exist in the first place.
Maybe the color of one’s skin doesn’t affect how you perceive someone. But ask yourself this: who are you surrounding yourself with? Who do you see as close friends in your life? Who do you interact with on a daily basis? Do you all share the same skin tone? It’s more than okay to see color, it’s NECESSARY to see color. Use your privilege wisely and open your eyes to what’s in front of you. Color isn’t something to hide, it’s something to embrace. The goal of equality is not to erase blackness, it’s to embrace blackness and all of the beauty that comes along with it.