tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115887191399856892.post3679307051443614078..comments2023-03-19T08:05:15.701-07:00Comments on ¿What Are You?: From the wiresBabalonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17816245824483235962noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115887191399856892.post-26877461028236631672008-02-13T15:27:00.000-08:002008-02-13T15:27:00.000-08:00LOL, I call it a nicewhiteliberal thing, but that'...LOL, I call it a nicewhiteliberal thing, but that's because most people I know are either old-school separatists who insist that black people don't live in this town because they choose not to (ugh), or colorblind liberals who insist that we're all one happy family and bringing up race is racist. <BR/><BR/>No, we should definitely talk about race, openly and honestly as we can, and a lot of us (I include me in this) have to swallow down some of the privilege and sins that have benefited us/me on the backs of others. We all have that. <BR/><BR/>And you can't prove you're a nonracist by marrying someone of another race anymore than you can prove you're not a misogynist by marrying a woman.Babalonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17816245824483235962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115887191399856892.post-79488448806067706182008-02-12T13:55:00.000-08:002008-02-12T13:55:00.000-08:00BTW, I should mention for the record that my broth...BTW, I should mention for the record that my brother is married to an African-America woman, and he used to have a t-shirt proclaiming the color-blindness of love. I asked him if he really was blind to who his wife was as a person, and got a lecture for my troubles.<BR/><BR/>Race is an explosive issue, to be sure, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it, especially when we live with it.Geoffrey Kruse-Saffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11242660591954094499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115887191399856892.post-31303594708242903342008-02-11T18:48:00.000-08:002008-02-11T18:48:00.000-08:00Did I mention somewhere I heard Martin King's daug...Did I mention somewhere I heard Martin King's daughter, on NPR, the weekend of his birthday, dismiss colorblindness as false because love is so specific, it cannot be colorblind? I was on my way to put gas in my car at the time, and I cheered. Such a beautiful, and correct, way of stating what should be obvious.<BR/><BR/>I don't think colorblindness is in fact a "white liberal" thing (speaking as a white liberal, I've never bought the lie). Rather, it's a rhetorical trick racist conservatives use so we don't have to ask questions about their racism. You see, they dislike brown folk because of crime, or illegitimacy (God, I hate that word), or the persistence of poverty, or whatever. They think they can hide behind the "blindness" which is only a "blind" in the way a duck blind is a blind - a way to hide something deadly.<BR/><BR/>Much better, indeed to talk about race - or sexual orientation, or ethnicity, or gender - differences honestly than to insist we need to blind ourselves to the reality of difference.Geoffrey Kruse-Saffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11242660591954094499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115887191399856892.post-52517905795134079142008-02-11T14:52:00.000-08:002008-02-11T14:52:00.000-08:00Ugh, "colorblindness" is for punks. It's a nicewhi...Ugh, "colorblindness" is for punks. It's a nicewhiteliberal way of not acknowledging the social issues that come with race/culture/ethnicity. I'm looking forward to the day when we can talk about race openly, honestly, purposefully, without stereotype or meanness or victimization/persecution. <BR/><BR/>A better world for our kids, Si, se puede!Babalonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17816245824483235962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115887191399856892.post-4905581958771281822008-02-11T14:35:00.000-08:002008-02-11T14:35:00.000-08:00I think my kids and grandkids are going to be part...I think my kids and grandkids are going to be part of a generation that will have to rethink all these concepts - race, minority, ethnicity - and decide if they're even worth keeping. I am not talking about "colorblindness" here. Rather, I am saying that I believe that "race", "minority" and other social constructs will necessarily be reconsidered as having any useful purpose before the end of the century. I am grateful and hopeful that my grandchildren may actually live in a country where race is not so much subsumed but transcended, where minority/majority distinctions will be replaced by the reality of plurality.<BR/><BR/>We aren't there yet; in fact, we're a long way from there. I think, however, we are farther down that road than most realize. I think the single biggest thing we could do to move even further is elect Barack Obama President of the US.<BR/><BR/>Yes, we can.Geoffrey Kruse-Saffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11242660591954094499noreply@blogger.com