This article, much as most articles do, started with an argument on Facebook. Oftentimes, when I hear about racism there's a few people on my feed who will ask, "This Black Lives Matter movement is just more divisiveness. Why can't we all just get along? When I was a kid, I didn't have Jewish or black or latino friends, I just had friends. I don't get why race should be a big deal." I paraphrase, but that's more or less what I hear. But the problem with that is that it ignores the systematic discrimination minorities have endured without promising real change.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, author of the book Racism Without Racists talks about how colorblindness functions as an ideology that allows specific structures that maintain racial inequalities—police brutality, housing discrimination, mass incarceration, voter disenfranchisement, et cetera et cetera. It's no longer okay to be racist. But it's okay for the majority of black families to live in low-income housing? That it's okay for black children to receive low income education? That they're encouraged not to take honors or AP classes when they do? That it's okay for young black people to be charged with felonies, as adults, for crimes that white people commit just as much? How much does your talk of friendship and equal treatment mean when you allow these systems to remain unchecked?
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You don't want to see race? You want to be colorblind? Well good for you. As a white person, it's very easy to make that choice. But for black people being shot by the police every day, it's not quite so easy. The colorblind principle isn't a solution. It's an evasion. It's saying "We've reached our destination" without making the necessary steps to take the journey.
Talking about racism is hard. But it's a necessary discussion in order for the world to move forward. Race does exist. And saying it doesn't is only going to make it worse.
