I’m Not Racist, Because I Don’t See Colour
What does “I don’t see colour” actually mean?
I’ve never really understood how someone could say this and really mean it. In reality we all see colour.
Let me give you an example. When I travelled to Kenya for the first time, even as a Black man, I was surprised to see so many Black people. Do you think the Kenyan people were as surprised to see so many Black people? Of course not all they saw were people, they also were not so surprised to see me either as I was just another Black man. What was surprising was to see a Black man amongst so many white people and being treated as white. Do you think they saw colour when they saw the party of white people I was travelling with, of course they did. The difference was the stain of colonialism which still placed the white people in my party above Black people in their own nation.
So it is in a majority white nation. When you see a white person you see a person along with their specific differences i.e. male, female or other, glasses, hair colour, eye colour, physical ability and other characteristics. But when you see, let’s say a Black person, what do you see? Skin colour Black, male or female (other likely doesn’t come into it at that point) then stereotype kicks in before you see anything else about the person.
So, when you say that you don’t see colour what you actually mean, is that you choose not to discriminate against someone because of their colour. But even here the implicit bias that has indoctrinated you since birth will not allow you to stop discriminating, because of the stereotypes you hold and the confirmation bias of your experiences; lived or learnt. I know this because I do the same to anyone who isn’t white because I’ve been indoctrinated with the same programming from birth as you have.
If you really want to be able to say I don’t see colour, start seeing colour — and I really mean start seeing colour. Look at a Black Person, a Brown Person, an Asian Person, an Indigenous person and see them for who they are with no preconceptions or stereotypes. Honour them as they should be honoured for their individuality as a human being. Consider the variety of their cultures being as different as the variety of cultures across the European continent.
And when you really start to see the beauty, variety and individuality of people who are not the same as you, you will never need to say “I don’t see colour” ever again. You will also recognise how offensive that term is to people who are not the same colour as you.
