For my own edification, is there a sanctioned definition somewhere that says the phrase "color blind" (as used in this kind of context) actually means "can't see/distinguish between colors".
You didn't ask how I was using the word, you asked if there was "A SANCTIONED DEFINITION SOMEWHERE". You wanted to know the definition of "colorblind" within the context of not just my post, but ALL ANTI-RACISM DISCUSSIONS.
And you said:
And every year I spend hundreds of hours with roughly 250 white, rural, Christian, males--many of whom see no difficulty at all with casual use of the word colored to describe someone. I need to be able to go into my interactions with them and explain HOW LANGUAGE HURTS. Not just that is does, but why it does. In order to do this, it means I need to understand how you're using the terms and what they mean, because you're a living example of someone who is invested in the argument.
Then you said (in another reply):
Some of my students are going to be going out into the world and reading blogs like yours--if not yours--and they're not going to know how to make sense of it.
What PRECISELY were you hoping I would glean from those exchanges about your intentions?
You asked an all encompassing question about how a phrase applied to anti-racism discussions. Then you justified that question by saying you needed to know because you have to explain why colored is wrong by "understand[ing] how you're using the terms and what they mean, because you're a living example of someone who is invested in the argument"
What else did you want me to think? Because your own words do not seem to support what you are now telling me.
There is one point I've had to repeat a lot that you seem to have a great deal of difficulty understanding: not everyone in this country gets to be confronted with their prejudices in day-to-day life
And you think I do? I'm a white person! I don't get called on my privilege any more than your students do. I don't have someone going around saying "oh, wait, you're being prejudiced!". I don't have a little guide on my shoulder. This is something I must MAKE myself do. The only thing confronting me with my own privilege is myself.
You seem to be more worried about me being misunderstood than I am. I frankly, and let me state this strongly, DO NOT CARE if the clueless, privileged folks of this world don't understand what I'm talking about, especially not people like your students. I am not here for them. This is NOT ABOUT THEM. Worrying and fretting over what they will and will not understand instead of saying that their understanding is THEIR responsibility is just so much derailing.
Because instead of focusing all these replies on ways that you could be helping the PoC students you do have, or how you can get involved with diversity programs to enroll more PoC students, or how you might introduce your students directly to the word and works of PoC themselves instead of using me as a "living example" - we've been circling 'round and 'round because you seem angry that I didn't include a glossary for clueless white folks at the end of every post.
People have been trying to educate and explain nicely to the clueless for decades. It hasn't made them less clueless. What makes people less clueless is an internal change in which they wake up to the world around them and realize they need to GET A CLUE. And that's a long process, but it starts when someone is ready to do the simple act of listening and opening their eyes.
No words, used in any way, can teach you how to be ready to listen. Listening is a wordless act.
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Date: 2009-08-15 11:38 am (UTC)For my own edification, is there a sanctioned definition somewhere that says the phrase "color blind" (as used in this kind of context) actually means "can't see/distinguish between colors".
You didn't ask how I was using the word, you asked if there was "A SANCTIONED DEFINITION SOMEWHERE". You wanted to know the definition of "colorblind" within the context of not just my post, but ALL ANTI-RACISM DISCUSSIONS.
And you said:
And every year I spend hundreds of hours with roughly 250 white, rural, Christian, males--many of whom see no difficulty at all with casual use of the word colored to describe someone. I need to be able to go into my interactions with them and explain HOW LANGUAGE HURTS. Not just that is does, but why it does. In order to do this, it means I need to understand how you're using the terms and what they mean, because you're a living example of someone who is invested in the argument.
Then you said (in another reply):
Some of my students are going to be going out into the world and reading blogs like yours--if not yours--and they're not going to know how to make sense of it.
What PRECISELY were you hoping I would glean from those exchanges about your intentions?
You asked an all encompassing question about how a phrase applied to anti-racism discussions. Then you justified that question by saying you needed to know because you have to explain why colored is wrong by "understand[ing] how you're using the terms and what they mean, because you're a living example of someone who is invested in the argument"
What else did you want me to think? Because your own words do not seem to support what you are now telling me.
There is one point I've had to repeat a lot that you seem to have a great deal of difficulty understanding: not everyone in this country gets to be confronted with their prejudices in day-to-day life
And you think I do? I'm a white person! I don't get called on my privilege any more than your students do. I don't have someone going around saying "oh, wait, you're being prejudiced!". I don't have a little guide on my shoulder. This is something I must MAKE myself do. The only thing confronting me with my own privilege is myself.
You seem to be more worried about me being misunderstood than I am. I frankly, and let me state this strongly, DO NOT CARE if the clueless, privileged folks of this world don't understand what I'm talking about, especially not people like your students. I am not here for them. This is NOT ABOUT THEM. Worrying and fretting over what they will and will not understand instead of saying that their understanding is THEIR responsibility is just so much derailing.
Because instead of focusing all these replies on ways that you could be helping the PoC students you do have, or how you can get involved with diversity programs to enroll more PoC students, or how you might introduce your students directly to the word and works of PoC themselves instead of using me as a "living example" - we've been circling 'round and 'round because you seem angry that I didn't include a glossary for clueless white folks at the end of every post.
People have been trying to educate and explain nicely to the clueless for decades. It hasn't made them less clueless. What makes people less clueless is an internal change in which they wake up to the world around them and realize they need to GET A CLUE. And that's a long process, but it starts when someone is ready to do the simple act of listening and opening their eyes.
No words, used in any way, can teach you how to be ready to listen. Listening is a wordless act.