The problem with being color-blind to race

Here's the thing about saying you're "color-blind" about race: It sounds nice if you don't think about it too hard.Many times, I have heard or seen people I know to be well-meaning say they "don't see race". At first blush, it sounds like the utopia we supposedly want to live in - a world where all people are treated equally and race doesn't make a difference in how they're treated. A true meritocracy, if you will. (I have to write a post about that particular word some other time, remind me.)The problem is that the rest of the world is not color-blind. People continue to be treated unequally due to the color of their skin, the version of god they worship, the country they're from. All that being "color-blind" achieves, then, is to be blind to the problems these people face.It means you refuse to see the color of that person's skin and all the attendant privileges or difficulties that are automatically associated with it.It's interesting, because when my children were young, they really were color-blind in the sense that a lot of well-meaning people seem to mean. The boys would be talking about someone in their pre-K class. I had met most of the children, but didn't remember their names. Which child? They would describe the student as best they could, but it literally never occurred to them to mention race. They saw the hues of skin, they just didn't know that was how you described someone.That's not what I'm talking about.When we refuse to see race as something that differentiates people from one another, we refuse to see the problems they face due to how much melanin they have. We refuse to see the jobs they don't get, the raises they don't get, the violence inflicted upon them and the hatred they face daily.Don't be color-blind, no one needs that. Be aware.Image by StockUnlimited