Color-blind

I was just reading a link within a blog of someone I don't know, but she's a friend of someone I do know and trust so she's probably a really good person. I totally misunderstood a line in her blog, this one:

"Have I mentioned that I think the whole "colorblind to race" theory may not serve us well? Brendesha Tynes has some new research that suggests people who identify as colorblind are less sensitive to racism."

I was shocked! Fortunately I followed up my emotional reaction by reading the link and discovered that we don't mean the same thing when we use the word colorblind. I know the author of the blog is not racist; she is the mother of multi-racial children. And the author of the linked research is African-American so that's a non-starter too. But I believe there is a really good side to being colorblind... it's really, really being colorblind! Let me explain.

My family and I lived in the Caribbean for 25 years. The initial six of those years were in Martinique, a lovely French Caribbean island. Our boys were young when we lived there, four and eight when we arrived. They attended local schools, enjoyed camping, birthday parties, trips to the beach with friends; in general they lived a very normal life in another country. They were seven and eleven when we left for a year back 'home' in the states. We spent much of that year stateside visiting family and friends who supported our ministry in one way or another. I clearly remember a particular question and answer evening. All four of us were on the platform and one dear soul asked our children if they had any white friends or were all their friends black. I will never forget our youngest son's reaction. I wanted to cry! He was so confused. He looked at me and whispered, "Mommy, what does she mean? None of my friends are black." I tried to explain to him that some of his friends had a darker skin color than he did, that they were really, really tan! He was so upset and confused and argued the point, informing me that his friends were just like him! Sigh... he was/is a very light-skinned redhead! We let it go that evening but knew he would be asking questions. At seven, almost eight years old, our son truly did not see anything different about his friends. He was completely colorblind. The best kind of colorblind. When we revisited that conversation later, he was devastated to learn that there were differences that some people thought were a big deal. He specifically said, "I thought all my friends were just like me, that I was just like them." I tried to tell him that he was right and others were wrong. We talked about getting a cut and the blood being just the same. We talked about "white" people who were all different shades of skin color, hair color, eye color. It didn't matter; the lesson had been learned. We were different. It was a sad day, the loss of innocence.

I hate that. I detest bigotry and anything that makes people think that they have the right to act all smug and superior to others based on external anything! I have been appalled at the nasty, ethnic comments made about the president and others like him who are also civil servants. I cringe when I hear people use colloquial terminology denoting people of another race. Where in the world do we get these ideas? Who do we think we are? Why are people who spew this kind of nasty speech condoned even for a moment?

Recently Arizona passed a law giving police officers the right to demand proof of citizenship from anyone that they think might be an illegal alien. Even that word... alien... I think of creatures from Mars not people from Cancun or Acapulco! This new law is going to lead to some serious trouble. I can appreciate the critical financial difficulties that Arizona faces as they deal with so many illegal residents but there has to be a better way! I wish I knew what it was. Maybe we all just need to be a bit more colorblind.