Confronting colorblindness

During a fall opening conference day for a school district, I provided a keynote on different forms of bias, with a focus on the notion of colorblindness. I said that racial/ethnic minority groups perceive colorblindness as a way for whites to ignore the social reality of people of color while whites perceive colorblindness as a magnanimous gesture that does not judge individuals by skin color or other external markers.

“Not seeing that I am a black Latino male means that you are omitting the basis for some of my lived experiences,” I said to the group.

After the presentation, the superintendent, with whom I had developed a great friendship, approached me about her own confusion about colorblindness. “Eddie, I don’t see your color, and I don’t treat you that way,” she said.