" I don't see color, I treat everyone the same." How many times have you heard that before? I have heard in my personal life and in my professional life. The problem is with that statement, unless you are blind you do see color and you treat people differently because you can see the color of their skin. With the recent death of a young black woman and the issues with the police saying it was a suicide while in the jail, and new evidence coming forth about what actually happened at the traffic stop I have to wonder will this get any better? Now, I know what your thinking, I am eluding to the point "every white person is racist." Actually, nope wasn't even going there. There are racist people of all colors, creeds, etc. While posting a video of the dash-cam of the arrest of this young woman, I looked at the comments made by two people from a friends post. One said something about "well if she would have complied." "complacence is key." Yes, as young children you are taught to always do as the police tell you to do. Well, as young white children you are told this, you are not told that you have to identify that compliance with words, so they don't misunderstand what you are saying or doing. When you are the child of a minority( not just blacks) that has historically been the prey of whites, the butt end of racist jokes, the reason you get followed around a store more often than you'd like, then you are taught to do as you are told by the police, but you have to let them know you are following directions with your words. In almost all of the videos that have made it to social media- the person being arrested has said in one way or another..." I am not resisting, I am doing what you ask..." The video I shared this morning shows a traffic stop, where the young woman does talk back to the officer, but does that mean she wasn't doing what he asked, by all means she was doing exactly what she was told to do. She did it with an attitude, but who wouldn't question the actions of the officer acting like this over a failure to signal? She had been out spoken about police brutality and now it was happening to her. She was no the victim of something that should have never happened.
But let's go back to that comment, "compliance is key." Well, sir she was complying and she still ended up dead in a jail cell. She complied like the others and still became a victim. I am not saying that only black lives matter, but they do. I am a biracial woman that sees first hand the problem with our society. I see both sides. I see the white privilege that is visible-I see it because my skin is light. Don't try to tell me it's not there. I see the racism in this country, in the city I live in, in the stores I walk through with my mother, a black woman, I hear it in the stories of my mother visiting southern states where the waiter "didn't see them." I see it in these videos of men and women doing as they are told by the people in place to protect society, but yet they still end up victims. When people say they don't see color, it's a lie. I see color everyday of my life and always have. I have the chance to see it from two perspectives but I see it. If you don't see color, well then you are part of the problem. The young man that went into a church and killed several members saw color and he saw it plain as day. He knew what color of people he didn't like and made a point to kill them. The media keeps asking how is this possible that a 'Millennial" can be racist, as if this generation of children are not supposed to see color and be racist. It's simple they DO see color, you just weren't aware of it and it never came up in conversation. Conversations about race, make the majority uneasy. While conversations of race by a minority group becomes heated- in part, because race affects them. Being a different race, religion, sexual orientation or any other marginalized group of people- hatred matters to them because it is apart of their lives.
Let me end this with a few statements of perfection: I hope that one day we don't have to have these conversations about hatred, that one day my older sisters will not have to fear for their sons lives when they get older, I hope that one day when I have children they grow up in a world that SEES COLOR and that generation is open and honest about it. I hope that everyone is kind.
Be kind today.
