Anonymous
Orangeburg, SC
Often the discussion about racism is constructed as a problem with race. As if the problem isn’t with the majority’s racist attitudes, the problem is the existence of minorities. “I don’t see you as Black” translates as “I don’t see you as Black, because if I did, I’d have to either apply my racist attitudes to you or get rid of them altogether.” “I don’t see race” Translates as “Because I can’t deal with the existence of heritages outside of my own, or the perspective that my race gives me, I’m going to ignore a massive part of people’s identities.” The effort to “see through” my Blackness in order to “appreciate my humanity” posits my ancestry and physicality as somehow barriers to being human. This is (White) liberal racism at its worse. I don’t need to be liberated from Blackness, I love Blackness, I carry it with pride, the problem is your effort to either shame and attack me out of it (as much as possible) or guilt yourself into blindness.
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