If the first thing I notice about a black man is his skin color, am I racist?
I grew up in a white neighborhood, and I have 100%-white family. My high school was mostly white, and my class was especially homogenous. I usually travelled in places dominated by white people. I saw more black people on TV than I did in real life.
Then I came to A. College, with 6% minority and international students. Of the fourteen people in my freshman seminar, three are black. Two girls on my rugby team are black, one girl in my quad is black, and one of my four teachers is black. I never count the white people I know, but I have kept a subconscious tally of all my black friends here at college.
When I ask my friends if I’m cruel to notice somebody’s skin, they assure me that as long as I don’t hold it against the person, I’m fine. But I’m not so sure. I have a deep fear that I’m racist.
Then starts the inner debate: since I condemn racism, surely that automatically makes me non-racist. If I’m not lynching people or forcing them to use separate drinking fountains, I am safe.
Then again, I should not be comparing my actions to those of people fifty years ago. I should raise the standards for my morals to a level that Dr. King never dreamed of. What if today’s racism—long past the issues of segregation and violence—is simply surprise at the sight of black skin?
But I get along with black people as well as I do with white people, even if I am caught off guard at first.
Or is it this “guard” that makes me racist?
I don’t want to be racist. I don’t want to meet a girl and immediately think, “Oh, she’s black.” But I do. When I meet a black man, the first thing I notice is his skin color. Am I racist?
Nope. When I meet a white person the first thing I look at is their eyes, but the absolute first thing I see is their skin color; it's hard to miss. This inner debate you're having is a product of the media's paranoia and American society; we are taught to tip-toe around the issue of race because any one thing could be misinterpreted as racist, by anyone.
You shouldn't be so concerned because it's only natural to notice someone's skin color. So long as you don't treat them any differently than you would someone else with a different skin color, you're in the clear. When people see you, the first thing they see is your skin color too.
k
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
reality amidst bullshit
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/49917
It is impossible for us to not see skin color. And why should we have to try not to see it? This "colorblind" idea suggests that there is something wrong with acknowledging and understanding difference. Your friends are right; it's only racist to notice someone's skin color if you are taking note so that you can avoid getting to know them as a person, or if you assign a bunch of qualities to a person based on skin color without knowing them. That doesn't sound like what you are doing.
And I'm not going to speculate about the origins of your inner debate, because I feel that just perpetuates an unproductive blame game around race. We don't need any more of that.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
No, I don't think you're racist. I think racism occurs when you treat someone differently because of a certain situation.
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
I don't think that you are, but this is a touchy subject, and definitely one that makes people uncomfortable! I know this is something I struggle with as well.
"Goodness is the only investment that never fails."
H.D.Thoreau http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sahara
It's one thing to notice someone's race and another to think "oh, he/she is a no good [fill in racial slur here]"
Actually, I think you worrying about being a racist, in a weird way proves you are not. I know a few people who I would consider very racist, and they do not see their views as in any way wrong. However, I also know plenty of guys, white and black, who have spent long periods of time worried about a comment they made being precieved as "racist" who are among the among the most tolerant people on earth.
"when you hold a pen, you are at war" Attributed to Voltaire