Colorblindness vs. Color Insight
I agreed with the ideas of both Johnson and Delpit in the previous articles however, I felt convicted both personally and professionally after reading this article. I think that I am guilty of colorblindness. When I read the quote, "Whites often aspire to colorblindness believing that color blindness promotes equality" I saw myself. I am not a racist, but of the mindset that by not noticing race I was treating everyone equally. I had the best of intentions. Color insight is really what I should inspire to obtain. Color insight promotes equality because there is more freedom to embrace who we are as individuals.It opens up dialogue and new ideas. Colorblindness implies that we are all the same, which is not true.I do agree with the authors when they state that now that we have a black president, society perceives this to be the end of our dialogue concerning racism. We have a long way to go. One of the most glaring examples is the extreme inequality in our schools today
The exercises provided in the article were good. I have an advisory period three times a week and I am going to use the grandmother exercise in the classroom. I think that if my students were of high school age I might use the others.
I was inspired by this speech by Lisa Delpit. She urges teachers to know our students. She says "If I don't know you I can't teach you." All the common core standards and best practices in the world will just be a black hole if we don't know who are students are.
Mary, I am so intrigued and honestly, envious, of your diverse clientele in your classroom. I think that almost every white person with good intentions has been guilty of some colorblindness, whether as educators or as just people in society just trying to treat everyone equally. I had never really considered it as being colorblind, but it's true; there was definitely a time in my life where I overtly "tried not to notice race," particularly at UMass Amherst in my freshman year. That became virtually impossible in my sophomore year when I lived on a very racially aware floor. Anyway, it's nice that we are putting words to these things that we've either felt or not noticed; hopefully, it will make us more diverse and effective as educators! I love that you are going to try the grandmother exercise in school; can't wait to hear how it turns out!
ReplyDeleteYour willingness to see yourself with vulnerable humility is impressive, Mary. I am really glad that these texts are resonating for you. :)
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Mary. I can certainly relate to your feelings. I, too, have been guilty of not looking at race in my students. I think in my case it may be because I never want to be offensive so I stray away from it a bit, but after reflecting some, I think it may be more offensive to my students when I disregard their race altogher. Thanks for the food for thought.
ReplyDeleteI do find that this reading was less antagonistic and it provides me a better understanding of how we should all look at race in a constructive way. I also find myself guilty of colorblindness and I would agree that having a conversation about race would be very uncomfortable however; Armstrong and Wildman provide us with excellent exercises.
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