Musings from a "color blind" gentleman......

All:

Thankfully, and by the grace of God, I was raised by a mother (may she rest in peace) who raised me to be color blind.

Though I grew up in an all-white neighborhood, sixty-odd years ago, in urban New Jersey, this never affected my views on the skin color of others.

Visiting New York quite frequently as a boy, I only saw massive crowds of jostling, hurrying, hustling,impatient people.....their color was not even the slightest bit revelant to my young eyes.

To me, people were simply PEOPLE, period.

Growing up, I had many historical heroes in my life, and, as I grew older, I added even more heroes (both black and white) to my ranks of great men.

Martin Luther King, John Henry (the steel-driving man), A Philip Randolph (Brotherhood of Pullman Porters), President Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and so many others.

Later in life, I found great American heroines in Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

I worked in New York City for nearly 25 years (I am now retired 19 years) and worked among hundreds of people, a number of whom were black (also Hispanic and Asian)

In all honesty, in all the years I worked "downtown", there were never any biases exhibited among my fellow employees and superiors.

We simply saw each other as co-workers (and insane asylum candidates!); many of us established good friendships over the years.

I can truthfully say that none of us ever looked at each other and made race or color and issue.

We were just co-workers, and, in many cases, good friends.

We worked together, laughed together, kidded each other, and, simply, enjoyed each other's company.

WHEN there WERE incidents where there MIGHT have been animosity between two people of different racial backgrounds, it was NEVER a "race" issue, simply a "difference of opinions"; of course, sometimes, there WERE hard feelings, to be sure, but that held true in ANY altercation, even if it involved people of the same color.

Of course, I know there WERE fellows who indeed WERE racists (and some were not too subtle about letting you know); thankfully, none of these guys were friends of mine, nor did I associate with them.

How greatly I loathe all of the racial disharmony in our country today; I was raised that ALL lives mattered, and, that, if more people would open up their ears, hearts, and minds, we could all be LEARNING from one another, instead of distancing ourselves even further than we are already are.

Most certainly, I am a man who would rather have FRIENDS of many colors, than have ENEMIES of many colors.

How grateful I am to have been raised "color blind", I will tell you......

"Live long and prosper"

 

You say that you were raised to be color blind, yet you were not blind to color.

Noting color, you say that you grew up in an all-white neighborhood. If you grew up there, and you concluded that it was all-white, you must have noticed that you were white, another aspect of color perception. You say that, not affected by the aforementioned neighborhood color observation, you had views on the skin color of others.

Again noting color, you say that you worked among a number of people who were black.

You weren't blind to color. You say that you observed it. You say that you formed views on it. You posted about it here.

A person who is blind to anything would have little or no reason to discuss it. I had a childhood friend who was truly color blind, diagnosed with congenital achromatopsia. One thing he never discussed was color. He wasn't curious about how others saw things, and he really had nothing to say on the subject other than that he knew that his visual perceptions were statistically anomalous. He didn't start conversations about color; he withdrew from them or ended them. It was a subject of no interest to him and about which he had nothing to say.

There's a diffeence between not making a value judgment about something and not perceiving it to exist. You can claim color blindness, but it seems to be rather something of an element of conscious differentiation of people for you.

 

So sad that your friend was medically color blind; what a terrible affliction not to see all the beautiful colors in the world, colors that so many of us take for granted, especially for a child.

One of the things I was taught growing up was to "treat others as you wish to be treated".

Now, of course, even when you follow this wise philosophy, it does not guarantee, by any means, that other people will respond in kind.

Most certainly I HAVE...and DO...observe color; but, the color of another person is superficial.

I'm more interested in what kind of person they are.....

"Live long and prosper"

 

I'm not "colorblind"; if you're Black, I see your Blackness, and acknowledge that while "all lives matter", Black folk are killed by police 3.23 times more frequently than Whites, and are 5.9 times more likely to be jailed than Whites; one of every three black boys born can expect to go to prison in his lifetime—compared to one of every seventeen White boys. 5% of illicit drug users are Black, yet Blacks represent 29% of those arrested and 33% of those incarcerated for drug offenses.
I realize that we sure as hell don't live in a post-racial or "colorblind" society, and that to pretend otherwise is a particularly nasty bit of White privilege that "White-washes" an entire racial group to assuage our own consciences by denying the seminal experience of racism and racial discrimination and the impact that struggle has upon other people's lives; struggles I've been privileged to have never faced.
I can't authentically honor someone else's experience if I'm simultaneously pretending that a huge chunk of that doesn't exist.

Report to the United Nations on Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System – The Sentencing Project

Criminal Justice Fact Sheet

 

Fellows:

I greatly appreciate your comments, observations, and views.

In my initial post, I SHOULD have said that I considered myself "color blind", in the respect that a person's skin color or race does not matter to me, so far as character and decency go.

Most certainly, I SEE different colors and races, but, again, it is the person HIMSELF that I focus on, not his ethnic background.

Working in "the big city" for nearly 25 years, I've seen (and heard) virtually all forms of prejudice (racial, sexual preference, religious, etc.)

Thankfully, none of this involved ME directly, nor did It directly affect inter-acting on the job "relations" with co-workers.

So far as homophobia, sadly, I overheard a LOT....TOO MUCH.....anti-gay slurs and remarks over the years, from people who were not friends of mine, nor in my "clique".

Tasteless, stupid, and hateful.

Bigotry.....in ANY form........inflicts more damage upon a person than most realize, nor is it something I would ever tolerate......

"Live long and prosper"