“The shift may, in fact, come as something of a relief, as it moves our collective focus away from a wholly unrealistic goal to one that is within anyone's reach right now. After all, to aspire to colorblindness is to aspire to a state of being in which you are not capable of seeing racial difference—a practical impossibility for most of us. The shift also invites a more optimistic view of human capacity. The colorblindness ideal is premised on the notion that we, as a society, can never be trusted to see race and treat each other fairly or with genuine compassion. A commitment to color consciousness, by contrast, places faith in our capacity as humans to show care and concern for others, even as we are fully cognizant of race and possible racial differences.”

—Michelle Alexander

***

I've met people throughout the years who experience actual color blindness. My first discovery was during lunch when a colleague asked me the color of a banana he wanted to purchase from the cafeteria. He wanted to make sure that it was more yellow than green. I immediately assumed that he was kidding until he told me that he was color-blind. I still thought that he was joking so he shared how his wife must coordinate his wardrobe to ensure that everything matched, just so he could get to work in the morning. At that point, I was convinced. Thankfully, we had a trusting relationship, so no damage was done as I expressed my disbelief. The fact that I didn't believe his color blindness, didn't make it any less real. The Cleveland Clinic describes this as:

When we hear the term color blindness in the workplace, seldom are we referring to someone's medical diagnosis, but rather an attempt to not see race. Researchers Nellie Tran and Susan Paterson describe racial color blindness as “a belief system that some individuals hold suggesting that race no longer matters and that the Unites States represents a meritocratic society where hard work is the sole determinant of success.” The attempt to not see race does not render it invisible. In principle, racial color blindness seems harmless or even the perfect solution to racial injustice and inequality. When folks believe that race is truly invisible or goes unnoticed, it stands to reason that racist thoughts and behaviors can't happen—at least on an individual level. The pretense that one does not notice color assumes that everyone must be the same and share the same experiences. If one has never experienced racism personally or felt that their race has never negatively impacted them, they can project that experience onto others and therefore assume that it must not exist. Experience tells people of color that nothing could be further from the truth. Those endorsing color blindness hold a point of view that denies racial dynamics within society, that race is not a contributing factor to an individual's lived experiences, and that racism is a thing of the past. After all, slavery has ended, school systems are more integrated, it's no longer illegal for one to marry outside their race, and we elected a Black president twice. To validate this point of view we can even point to the success of prominent people of color like Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina astronaut; Black financier Ken Chenault; and Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth of the AAPI community and double amputee. This level of change did not happen because of color blindness but because of decades of hard fought-and-won battles by historically marginalized and oppressed people. Choosing to ignore color completely negates racial injustice and the fact that race has been and continues to represent struggle, division, and subjugation for Black and Brown people. White people are able to comfortably subscribe to color blindness because they are usually unaware of how race affects people of color in the workplace and in American society as a whole. The idea of a color-blind society, though well-intentioned, demonstrates less appreciation for diversity and falls short of fostering cultures of inclusion and belonging. Color is not invisible, no matter how blind to it one claims to be, and it continuously shows up in overt and covert ways.

The belief that race is not taken into account or even noticed for that matter as it relates to opportunity makes it impossible to justify the fact that 466 CEOs on the Fortune 500 List are White, according to a 2020 report by Statista.com. The report further explains:

The data shows that color is seen through a crystal-clear lens and that bias toward race persists in the midst of colorblindness. When I encounter a Black, Asian, or LatinX CEO, for example, I can rest assured that their ascension to the top involved overcoming more difficulty and adversity than a White CEO would have encountered. It's important for the dominant culture to truly understand that people of color walk through the world differently than they do and it's by design. We are expected to conform and assimilate to their norms to build relationships and have a chance of success in the workplace. It's not the other way around where the dominant culture must get to know us to achieve any level of success. No conformity or assimilation is required on their part. While people of color tend to not be color blind, we are in fact deeply impacted by its ideology.

In conversations with my White friends and colleagues on the topic of race, some share that they don't see race and that they treat everyone the same. They were raised to not see color and declare that we are all members of the human race and that's all that matters. They purport that they don't care whether one is Black, Brown, and jokingly red, yellow, or purple—it's all the same to them. I know that they mean no harm. What they don't realize is that those well-meaning words erase me, my identity, my culture, and my heritage—all the parts of me that are sitting alongside them. If one can't see my color, then they can't possibly see me. Many who espouse color blindness tend to regain their sight when they feel that they've been treated unfairly. Skin color is top of mind when lamenting that they were passed over for promotion in favor of a deserving and qualified Black or Brown person. They feel that reverse racism was at play. By contrast, when they hear people of color lament about being passed over for promotion in favor of a deserving and qualified or lesser qualified White colleague, they feel that that individual was “the best person for the job” and race was not a factor. Hard work alone is no assurance of success for people of color and even more so where identities intersect to include LGBTQ individuals or persons with disabilities. A point raised in Activity 32, “Leverage Your Privilege,” is that the workforce in the United States is comprised of 78 percent White people, while the 2020 census data reports that White people represent 57 percent of the total U.S. population. (That number would decrease if it reflected White people who are no longer in the workforce.) These statistics make a compelling case for race as a barrier to success and show that people are far less color blind than they claim to be. How will people of color in the United States ever have an equal shot at achieving the American Dream of success, prosperity, and upward social mobility through hard work when we are systematically and disproportionately denied entry to the work itself? Black and Brown people are more often than not culturized to embrace hard work as a means to success and that the harder we work, the more likely we are to achieve our goals. Sadly, our hard work does not negate the fact that we continue to face insurmountable barriers to achieve the same level of success as our White counterparts even though we are working just as hard or harder. When people of color are left bewildered as to why our hard work has failed us, the finger points to individual shortcomings and not the broken systems that continue to perpetuate racism. White Americans believe that their privilege by virtue of their skin color has nothing to do with their self-reliance and hard work that yields their success. If they can do it, so can everyone else. In reality, success can be achieved by all only when the rules equally apply to all.

Champions of inclusion understand the impact of color blindness and view seeing color as a gift that enables us to discover unique qualities, appreciate new perspectives, and better understand a person's lived experiences. Understanding the impact of color blindness means taking the blinders off and altering the way we think about race and racism. We must see color to develop the language needed to have courageous conversations about race and examine our biases. Inclusion requires developing new knowledge and new skills and exploring attitudes about race and racism while simultaneously applying what's learned.

Actions

Action Accelerators

• HBS.edu: Harvard Business School, “Racial Color Blindness: Emergence, Practice, and Implications”: www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/Racial%20Color%20Blindness_16f0f9c6-9a67-4125-ae30-5eb1ae1eff59.pdf
• UCLALawReview.org: “The Indignities of Color Blindness,” by Elise C. Boddie: www.uclalawreview.org/indignities-color-blindness
• Forbes.com: “The Case Against Racial Colorblindness in the Workplace”: www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/01/20/the-case-against-racial-colorblindness-in-the-workplace/?sh=577f922036a6

Sources Cited