Giving Compass' Take:
- Vu Le explains why being "color blind" is harmful and why acknowledging race and systemic inequality is essential for effective social change efforts.
- Are you doing enough to directly acknowledge and address systemic inequality?
- Read about amplifying leaders of color to dismantle color-blind philanthropy.
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In my work and travels I’ve met some really incredible people doing amazing stuff. Every meeting, every trip restores my faith in our sector, as well as replenishes my office’s supply of pens and chapsticks from various exhibitors at conferences. But once a while, I encounter people who are “color-blind,” who say things like:
XYZ foundation decided to focus on organizations doing work with minorities. That’s great for organizations like yours, but what about the rest of us? I just don’t understand. I just don’t get why we need to keep focusing on race.
and
Can we talk about income? We keep talking about race, when really it’s about income. It’s not about race. Poor people are of all colors.
These are just a sample of things I’ve heard, and when I hear them, it makes me sad. So I do what I sometimes do under stress: Listen to the soulful ballads of Kenny Loggins. Especially “Return to Pooh Corner,” which recalls the innocence of childhood, counting bees and chasing clouds with a yellow bear whose nose is stuck in a jar of honey (Kenny Loggins, you sexy mulletted genius, you!).
But we need to have a heart-to-heart, all right? I know this can be tough, but meet me halfway.
COLOR-BLINDNESS IS NOT GOOD. It is not good to be color-blind. There’s been plenty written on why. Psychology Today calls it a form of racism. And here’s a piece on Everyday Feminism detailing how colorblindness perpetuates injustice (The article also acknowledges that “color-blind” as a term is ableist). And here’s an article in the Atlantic debunking the argument that focusing on race actually causes the nationalist movement we’ve been seeing more of recently. And here’s a thought-provoking TED Talk on how we need to move from being color-blind to “color-brave.”
I’m reiterating a few arguments that the authors and speaker above bring up, along with some points I’ve thought of, as to why color-blindness is harmful. It is generally destructive, but it is even more so when wielded by those of us in nonprofit, education, and other professions focused on helping people and addressing injustice:
- It invalidates people’s identities
- It perpetuates the notion that diversity is bad for some reason
- It ignores the impact of implicit biases
- It denies the existence of systemic oppression
Read the full article about color blindness by Vu Le at Nonprofit AF.