The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
My experience
Seattle, WA
People say “reassuring” discounting things like “I never think of Asians as people of color, you’re like white people with funny eyes.” and operate using stereotypical assumptions believing they are operating “color-blind”. In most workplaces recognition of racial diversity is limited to certain days of celebration and when it makes HR reports look good.
L. A. Elliott,
Rockwall, TX.
Submission collected from Pro Publica: Segregation Now Series
Every person has a story, a culture, a past and especially a future. If you ignore person’s race in an attempt to be colorblind and inclusive, you’re actually taking away their story, their culture, their past and especially their future. Instead, build your relationships with the world based on authentic respect for our differences.
Rebecca Sallee Marshall Rou,
Traverse City, MI.
It feels that if I acknowledge racism In our society people of color tell me color blindness is the only way to prove I’m not a racist.
Brian Hayes,
Atlanta, GA.
I got into Salsa dancing because I wanted to try something new. I never knew it would open my eyes and allow me to meet people I never would have interacted with before. Upon doing that, I realize that we are much more a like than different. I found my love through dance.
Michael H
Chicago, IL
I grew up listening to Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy talk about their dream of a society that one day would be “color blind”. Forty years later, I feel like we’re as far as ever from that goal. In fact, I suspect most Americans would prefer to perpetuate the distinctions drawn by color rather than erase them. Maybe it gives us something to cling to…an identity we can rally around and fight for. At whatever cost. There’s certainly been progress over the years in the civil rights struggle, but there’s also been a lot of deep trenches dug on both sides…on all sides. The battle is more complex that ever before, but never more fierce. Slavery remains the original sin of this country and the issue of race will be with us as long as this nation lives and breathes.
Gabrielle Davis
Philadelphia, PA
I remember being introduced to my friends dad once as her “black friend”, I knew she meant nothing by it but it had made me cringe a bit because I had never even thought about her race that way. I also never realized how racially awkward she was until that moment so much so that she had felt the need to point out my race. I don’t see the people in my life in shades of color or judge them on the amount or lack there of, of melanin in their skin. They are just themselves, there is no need or desire to bring race into their description because their personalities and who they are tell enough.
Anonymous
Chadbourne Residential College
Brian Phillips
San Jose, CA
Could I be that ignorant of the nature of race in this country that I don’t see color? Or perhaps it is a sign of progress. Or maybe I’m just kidding myself and oblivious to my own surroundings.
Lacey Johnson
Los Angeles, CA
I know that saying you “don’t see color” is a hot trend right now, but I don’t think that many realize how offensive it is to a person of color to hear those words. By saying you don’t see color, you are denying our struggle, our history, and our existence. People of color want you to see race, we just don’t want you to use it against us.
Katelin Hansen
Columbus, OH
I started college completely ‘post-racial’ and ‘colorblind.’ I remain so thankful for the friends of color who abided with me, answered my ignorant questions, and continue to educate me today. Changed my worldview, and frankly my life’s trajectory.
Robert Williamson
Margate, FL
I was a white boy born in southwest Florida but left there at 5, came back at 11 in 1970. Had a black friend up north, had no real awareness of race until I came back south. My mother grew up in southeast Florida, she witnessed lynchings and all the racial bigotry of the day. I had a lot of problems in school with black kids picking on me, the hatred between blacks and whites was an incredible shock to me and I learned to fear. 43 years later I’ve raised 4 color blind children. I pray for the day the only “race” we see is the human race and the different colors and shapes are seen as variety, gods gift to us, to keep things interesting. I find that some of the most beautiful people I’ve seen come from “mixed” marriages. My hope is that my children’s children will get there.
Katherine Liu
Ann Arbor, MI
Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
I dislike it when people say that they don’t pay attention to the color of one’s skin, or they’re essentially “color-blind”. There should be no PREJUDICE or DISCRIMINATION toward anyone on the basis of their skin tone, but race creates cultures that have their own beliefs, traditions, systems of life. Respect all cultures, races, cultural identities, and love your own background.
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