Let’s be honest, we can’t be colorblind because America is not post-racial.

“However, many of us who walk around every day in black and brown bodies know full well—from personal experience and from warnings handed down by generations about how non-white people need to act in public to survive—that our country is not post-racial and won’t be for a really long time, if ever. We know that colorblindness is a dangerous myth, one that lulls some white people (and some people of color) into thinking that if we ignore race and focus on character, then everything will self-correct. “

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Author: Angela Grant

Angela Grant is a medical doctor. For 22 years, she practiced emergency medicine and internal medicine. She studied for one year at Harvard T. H Chan School Of Public Health. She writes about culture, race, and health.

19 thoughts on “Let’s be honest, we can’t be colorblind because America is not post-racial.

  1. In my eyes it is not pure racism. It is the sick police-stuff, who does not have ever reflect their duty in accordance with Human Rights!
    The act as if they are some sort of Home-Army. Maybe some have served in the army, have learned to hate and to kill. Identify an ‘Enemy’!
    Coming home from the Battle Fields and then making the US to their Killing Fields to suppress their own feelings and mental illnesses of the ‘Fields’!

    1. Hi Fritz, Good to see you. I agree….

      Racism morphed into tool used to treat cognitive dissonance of discrimination, terrorism and targeted acts of cruelty to communities of color.

      As we ignore, the elephant gets larger, multifactorial, rooted tangled mass of history of repression and oppression– something the founding fathers sought to protect against– trampling human rights by repackaging human bondage as justifiable penalty for being pigmented.

      Technology allowing once unimagined interactions, communication and disclosures from all walks of life ….provided is a broader view, that encompasses greed, violence and the insatiable appetite for control /power. Without technology and blogs I would still buy the trash sold by traditional media who btw are usa government sponsored. Censorship a tool to control of OUR minds and behaviors.

      As for the founding fathers, how could they protect human rights in the midst of slavery and still undisclosed atrocities as well as invisibly caged Native Americans? USA is a country of immigrants; most escaped persecution by coming here… The founding fathers were criminals ….that is history . Once we understand that we begin to understand the value structure and its dependency on secrecy to survive.

      This was a great article….still has me thinking.

      Hope to see more of you here.

  2. Anybody who denies that the USA is as racist as it can get, is not only colorblind, but blind, deaf, tasteless, out of touch, smells like shit, and is, on top of that, mega delusional. Um…….to say it politely eh?

    1. Well, how about the entire justice system…..The Justice System believes justice is treating black and brown people inhumanely and murdering unarmed black teenagers under stereotypes of suspicion and fear rolled in laws such as stand your ground. All this justices comes With full immunity to whites who murder black people, in particular white police officers who are above the law.

      And still you have people even black people denying the existence of racism as if black people conjured the idea as a further excuse for denigration.

      1. Justice systems and justice? Lmfao! To again keep it polite, let me put it this way: The only place where lies are welcomed, put on a pedestal, and treated as God’s gift to mankind, is the courtroom. And not only in the land of the not so free and the home of the not so brave.

            1. You weren’t around either when JFK and Einstein (just to name 2 of your favorites) had their days, but still you quote them ad nauseam. Poor Moses. Probably family of Lucifer.

  3. I know you write this Angela, but it is something I don’t understand but know its true. If I think about it for a while using an example that means something to me instead, then I feel the pressure on me. I could never be that way myself, but people close to me, some are.

    It the end though I just can’t understand why, because of surroundings. I don’t like using the word ‘minority’. Maybe we should eliminate it for races and call it, the level class.

    1. I did not write this….it is too eloquently written… Quite honestly, I have issues and try hard not to use the term. Kind hard to know what to call yourself when your culture is smeared in filth.

        1. I have to add to this. With all the bad things that are going around, America is not a block that moves together. America is made up of individuals, some of whom are racists, some who are sexists, some who are mentally ill, and some who think they know it all. The majority of Americans are people who do not think or are any of the above but are hard working and fully compassionate people. We cannot blame “America” for the behavior of some, even if that some represented all but 1 person! In the US there is a saying: The communists and terrorists will kill 99 innocent people to get to the 1 guilty whereas in democracy, 99 criminals will be spared when they want to save 1 innocent.

          There is a difference between how individuals see what happened in Ferguson and elsewhere and whether there is racism or not. I am sure there is racism in some families, some streets, some towns, some cities, and some states. But now all. And we need to remember that as we talk. Are we to kill 99 innocent to get to the 1 guilty or save the 99 guilty to save the 1 innocent?

          I do think that there are more questions than answers. I also know that there are more black youth (in percentages) than white without jobs–and that is in proportion to the percentages of black youth falling out of schools for whatever reason. I personally have several extremely successful friends who happened to be black. They are well educated, they were my classmates in several of the schools I got degrees from and I graduated with some of them. I bet you that they are not in Ferguson among the demonstrators and they may not even agree to some of the racism statements.

          This is not a judgmental statement on the black or white or yellow or green or purple populations. This is a statement that in America, individuals are still the ones claiming that right to do as they wish, to think as they wish, and to verbalize as they wish. America is not one giant amoeba moving left and right… Please consider those who do not think alike to those you blame and do not make general statements because what you do then is creating racism, the very thing you are complaining about.

          1. The same consideration you seek should also be given. The privilege comes from always seeking things to be your way….it you that has to be pleased and satisfied….. what I am saying is that I don’t care….. because there are some people who will never see the racism because it doesn’t suit them to….. The game is changing no longer am I thinking of how I should say things so white people can understand…I could careless many have lost my respect permanently without even knowing and neither they nor I care.

          2. please consider the fact that there are people like me who do not think like you….and that is okay . perhaps you should change the way you think…… so you can understand me…… like I did for most of my life. The chains and shackles are gone….. and I will not be controlled…. or told how I should rebel Anglo style…..yes I am changing.

            still no arrest perhaps divine intervention will send them to their graves…..

          1. Fuck that description as it is based on the superiority/inferiority concept invented by “Anglo style” thinking. And we both know it’s crap! So throw that description in the next garbage bin and move on.

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