colorblind Archives - The Race Card Project

It’s ok, you don’t act white.

December 2, 2025December 2, 2025 act white, colorblind, friends, identity, Katy Carpenter, OH, whiteness

Katy Carpenter,
OH.

I recognize that we don’t live in a color blind society, but race is never something I felt was central to my identity, and has no biological base. It never came up until I moved to the Bay Area and people started associating this idea of whiteness as a central component of my identity or what they saw my identity being composed of. After my friends get to know me though, they always come to the same conclusion : “its ok, you don’t act white”, but I sure look it (and I’m left wondering again what these six words mean).
I understand that whiteness has its benefits, and feel guilty that I do not receive the same scrutiny in stores, while driving, or just in my life in general. I think this is an incredibly important conversation to be having, and I will continue to try and understand this conversation on a deeper level. Hopefully some good will come of it-because I am so tired of humans losing their lives.

Not seeing color is the problem

October 13, 2025 Alashia Lewis, colorblind, I don't see color, LA, New Orleans

Alashia Lewis,
New Orleans, LA

I chose these words because white people always say that they don’t see color when that is the main problem. It is important to acknowledge the differences in our societies and that because of the color of our skin we will always be seen as subordinate. When you say you don’t see color your essentially placing everyone into the same group, which isn’t accurate because while white people are given an abundance of privileges us minorities have to work harder just to have the same opportunities.

-Dillard University

Talking about race is not racist

June 12, 2025 anonymous, CA, colorblind, Los Angeles, talking about race

Anonymous,
Los Angeles, CA

The drawing my current 25-year-old did as a 4 and a half year old, is a beautiful illustration of the way our children see color. She saw us, her Brown family members in full color. No – we are NOT born color-blind! Talk about skin color and race labels with your children. They need us to get over our anxiety about race so we can stop passing it along to future generations.

Be color brave, not color blind.

January 22, 2025January 23, 2025 anonymous, brave, Color, colorblind, different, Norfolk, VA

Anonymous,
Norfolk, VA

It’ll all be different.

Colorblind childhood, learned to see.

July 11, 2024 colorblind, friend, Kira Miller, learned to see, MI, mixed race best friend, North Central Michigan College, Petoskey, racism, white town

Kira Miller,
Petoskey, MI

Growing up in a predominantly white town with a mixed-race best friend, I initially didn’t think much about race. My friend and I were just kids, and race didn’t seem to matter. As we grew older, however, I started to notice the subtle and sometimes overt ways race affected our experiences. This friendship has been a constant source of learning for me, opening my eyes to the realities of race and racism in our society.

Quit Looking for Possible Racist Meanings

May 15, 2024May 15, 2024 Asian, CO, colorblind, Cortez, Patricia Lee, Racist, Too Thin Skin

Patricia Lee,
Cortez, CO

Being Asian, I sometimes wonder if what a White person said barely veiled an intentional race-related insult. However, I outwardly ignore these suspicions and give that person the benefit of the doubt, if it is a stranger.

While there is no such thing as truly colorblind (except in the medical sense), I do believe some people just have skin that is TOO THIN, and I do not mean that in any medical sense.

This realization hit me from one specific encounter that I probably will never forget. I was washing my hands in a public bathroom when two Black women were also in there. One of them emerged from the stall and proclaimed, “Mission accomplished.” I instantly chimed in, “Hey that’s exactly what my husband and I say when our dogs poop or pee!”

Those women said not one word but instead glared at me with hatred. In a kneejerk example of having Too Thin Skin, they assumed I was comparing my dogs to Black people. Gimme me a frickin’ break! I should have followed up with “AND sometimes we say it to each other when we come out of a bathroom, too!”

But their looks were so baleful that I didn’t engage at all. If someone wants to hate based on an innocent comment, that’s their problem. I have better things to do.

Why aren’t black adoptive parents colorblind?

August 12, 2022August 12, 2022 adopt, Austin, colorblind, Ilbersalle Fallon, parents, TX

Ilbersalle Fallon,
Austin, TX

Colorblind is still blind! Open eyes.

August 8, 2022August 9, 2022 Amandilo Cuzan, blind, Chicago, colorblind, eyes, IL, Jim Crow, knowledge, open, Power

Amandilo Cuzan
Chicago, IL

Knowledge is power. Beyond the emotion we all benefit from studying the real history of race in America and the world. Too often we shy away from the realities of the European slave economy, Reconstruction, Eugenics, Jim Crow, and the current Prison-Industrial-Complex. Blind is blind no matter how you look at it. Thanks for a great project.

Why won’t we just turn colorblind?

July 22, 2022July 22, 2022 CA, colorblind, Irvine, Julia Wright

Julia Wright,
Irvine, CA.

Ignoring color is not the answer.

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 Christy Blade, Color, colorblind, ignore, lens, life experiences, MN, Rochester

Christy Blade,
Rochester, MN

In the past I treated people without regard to their race. I’ve lived in my other countries. Until recently I thought I should treat all people without regard to race. As I’ve grown as person, I have realized that each person comes with their own experience which affects the lens they view life and events. I am asking more questions and learning my life experiences are far different from other races and cultures.

They won’t listen, they won’t believe

May 26, 2022May 26, 2022 angry, Anthropology class, colorblind, first experience, hippy, ID, justify, Lewiston, Long conversations, Merritt Campbell Burton, society, stereotype, teased, Uncomfortable Conversations

Merritt Campbell Burton,
Lewiston, ID

I considered myself color-blind until I learned that wasn’t helping. I was one of those hippy-dippy people who would say “we need to just move past it.” We don’t; not yet. We need to acknowledge and talk about it. Long conversations, uncomfortable conversations.

My first experience with racism was as a child. I can’t remember distinguishing between “races” before then. My sister and I were being teased at the playground by a couple of Black children, they were calling us “vanilla ice cream”. Finally, I said “oh yeah, well then you’re chocolate ice cream!” Their mother overheard me and was very angry, even more so when she discovered how it all started.

Now, I am 43 years old. I’ve returned to college and am taking Cultural Anthropology and learning even more. I honestly didn’t know that there are no genetic differences between “races” and that the term itself is completely inaccurate. I used to think Black people were genetically more athletic, for example.
I get so frustrated trying to communicate with other white people on the subject. They won’t listen, they won’t believe. They can watch a video of an unarmed Black man being killed by police and somehow justify it in their minds. They cannot, or willfully will not see the advantages that our whiteness has given us in our lifetimes; the doors that do not shut in our faces.

Currently, we’re on the chapters on racism and ethnicity in my Anthropology class and I’m spending a lot of time with my heart wide open and aching as I learn more about just how much of an illusion “race” is, considering how ingrained into our society it is.
2018 and we still can’t hold a real national conversation on racism. Too many people pretend it doesn’t exist anymore.

Latin, Bald, Tattoos = Thug = Mistaken Identity

March 1, 2022March 1, 2022 Albany, Bald, colorblind, Eduardo Meza, judge, Latin, Master's Degree, mistaken identity, NY, stereotype, Tattoos, thug

Eduardo Meza,
Albany, NY.

I get it! I look like the typical thug you will find in disadvantaged neighborhoods throughout most of California. I know I am immediately judged by my cover. People mistake my form of self-expression for some sort of territorial gang branding. I am gay, latino, well-educated (Master’s Degrees), family-oriented and a philanthropist. Judging me on my looks alone robs individuals of getting to know a beautiful person. For some I’m “white-washed” for others I’m “a thug.” A tough position to be in when all I want to do is contribute to the betterment of our society. Be colorblind and open the door for endless opportunities.

I believe in the hyphen!

January 27, 2022January 27, 2022 All American, Alto, asian-american, believe, colorblind, food, Hispanic male, hyphen, Latin-American, melting pot, MI, origin, Roberto Jara

Roberto Jara,
Alto, MI.

It drives me nuts when people say, “Let’s all be color blind, forget our cultures of origin and just be ‘American,’ instead of ‘Latin-American,’ ‘Asian-American,’ etc. I can be American and preserve by culture of origin! Those of us who come from cultures other than the dominant Northern European Culture, have something to contribute to North America as our country evolves. Life would be boring without Chinese food, Salsa music, etc. I’m proud to be Mexican-American. My suspicious side suspects that when people say, “Let’s just all be American,” that they just want me to forget my culture and be absorbed into their dominant Northern European culture and story. The story needs to grow! My ancestors didn’t come across on the Mayflower, they waded across the river and I am not ashamed. I’m proud of what they have done to make this country better by not being absorbed into a melting pot, but making a wonderful stir-fry of people from all kinds of beautiful cultures living side by side and creating a whole better than the sum of the parts!

Colorblindness is not an antiracist action

January 24, 2022 antiracist, colorblind, Columbia, Kate Blanton, SC

Kate Blanton,
Columbia, SC

Not colorblind, just failed to see.

October 25, 2021October 25, 2021 Chesapeake, colorblind, injustice, Megan Pastore, See, sight, VA

Megan Pastore,
Chesapeake, VA

Pull me over, and I get to walk away.
I’m not colorblind, but due to my white privilege, I failed to see the true nature of suffering and injustice, until now.

“He’s not your son? Oh good!”

October 13, 2021January 9, 2022 adopted, Amber Halverson, black baby, brother, but you don't look, city, colorblind, culture, Eugene, Family, father, first experience, godparents, mother, OR, sister, son, store, white

Amber Halverson,
Eugene, OR.

“Oh good! He doesn’t look like he has any white in him at all!”
My first real encounter with my own race that I can remember was when I was in middle school. My white godparents had just adopted a black baby. They “kept his black name”, DiMario, as his middle name and changed his first name to the “biblical” (aka: white) name Joshua.
We were in the store and my godmother took her oldest daughter to the bathroom so I was with the baby waiting outside. An older white woman came up to me and asked if he was my son. I exclaimed, “Oh, no no no. He’s my brother”. In my mind it was a crazy thing to ask because I was obviously too young to have a baby. Her response was “Oh good. Because he doesn’t look like he has any white in him at all!” and then she just walked away like what she said didn’t mean anything.
I was raised in a diverse city with many different races and cultures, but my own race was not acknowledged to me until it was compared to someone else’s.
His was acknowledged right away and was immediately looked down upon, all before he could talk.
I often wonder if his parents have ever talked with him about his race and what it means to him or if they teach him colorblindness.

Colorblindness renders me invisible to you…

April 26, 2021April 26, 2021 bi-racial, Black woman, blind, colorblind, Dr. NiCole T. Buchanan, East Lansing, ideology, marginalize, MI

Dr. NiCole T. Buchanan,
East Lansing, MI.

I don’t want people to be blind to my color. Instead, I want them to see me in my entirety, including the fact that I am a Biracial Black woman, and I want them to actively embrace these parts that make me whole. I believe most people have good intentions in advocating for colorblindness, but colorblind ideology often results in marginalizing those pieces of me that I happen to value highly.

Utopia is a nonexistent colorblind world

April 4, 2021April 1, 2021 colorblind, N word, n*****, Powhatan, skin, Utopia, V. Anne Spence, VA, white

V. Anne Spence,
Powhatan, VA.

Would I have been called a “N****” if my skin were white”? Growing up in El Barrio and the Bronx in New York City was I called the “N” word by a redheaded transit cop at 12. The last incident occurred in a store in here Virginia. I was in my forties. Maybe now that I’m in my fifties it will just be said under their breath.

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