More and more frequently these days, white people are claiming that they don't see race -- that they're "colorblind."
"You know something?" they might say to a black person, "I never even notice that you're black!"
This statement always makes me laugh...because it's a little condescending (not to mention impossible), even though it's meant to make someone feel more "at ease".
White people usually think that "racists" are the ones who harbor racist thoughts and feelings, and thus the ones who commit "racist" acts. However, as Derald Wing Sue suggests, there are many, many ways in which white people can act with unwarranted and unconscious aggression toward people of color, and thus, act in "racist" ways. Mistaking non-white people for service workers is but one common example.
I've mistaken white people for service workers, and I've been mistaken for one as well.
So, this is also one of those things that can be misunderstood as racism.
Although I see the bloggers' point, and know that it does happen often.
But, sometimes when it does...it's the embarrassment alone that puts that person in their place.
A friend of mine who was the facilitator for a workshop and entered the kitchen of the office where she was going to be teaching for a glass of water. An employee immediately started giving her orders for where the platters were supposed to go in the conference room.
When the employee realized her mistake...
There are many reasons to be angry about the lack of experience many white people have with not only race, but culture as well.
The irony is that many people who point out racism, and how they've been slighted don't see themselves as racist when they make disparaging remarks about white people.
I've been in situations where I've had to tolerate anti-white remarks, and in some cases been outright insulted, and unapologetically at that.
Racism doesn't only have a white face. We all have a long way to go, people.
Link via aloha nico.
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