Michele Russo
Color Blindness is the New Racism
Dictionary.com defines insight in a variety of ways. Some particular pieces of the definition that stood out to me were as follows...."an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing," "the recognition of sources of emotional difficulty." As a Registered Nurse, I speak to insight quite frequently. Although I am currently working in the school setting, I remain working per diem at Butler Hospital. Throughout my 9 years of working within this institution I frequently encourage my patients to have future insight into what their treatment can provide them with. Although I speak frequently to focusing on the 'here and now,' I applaud them in times when they express future insight and recognition. I have always thought of insight as a particularly positive and healthy tool, in which all beings require in order to see the world as a whole. Although I perceive insight as a tool, I never quite came to the realization that developing insight truly means having a skill...A skill in which must be learned and modeled in order to be achieved successfully.
Armstrong and Wildman speak in great detail about instilling the concept of "color insight" into our daily vocabulary. "Colorblindness is the new racism" was quite an interesting read, to me. I must admit that after a while, the term "whiteness" was really starting to erk me. Something about it makes me cringe a bit. I can't quite pinpoint what it is about the term, but I find it sort of...well...insulting. I felt at many times, my stomach starting to turn every time that word was mentioned. Whiteness. I don't go around saying "Asianness" or "Blackness" or "Latinoness." Why must the term whiteness be continually utilized? I found myself feeling judged...even targeted, a bit in this article. Are we whiteness folks that terrible? I wondered if I was the only one feeling this particular way. Something about this term, makes it seem as if we are defined as naive and sheltered folks who can not seem to notice what the color of our skin has to offer us.
Peggy McIntosh's comment regarding white privilege on page #63 stood out to me as she described white privilege as a "knapsack of benefits in which the holder can remain oblivious." A knapsack of benefits? What exactly is she speaking to? It wasn't until I myself completed the powerline exercise on page 72 that I noticed how heavy my knapsack really is. If those particular pieces is what privilege is composed of, then I guess I am more privileged than not- meeting 6 of the “privileged” criteria. Interesting to complete this exercise, I thought.
Did anyone else relate to the racial observation exercise? Did anyone else sit back and think about our everyday lives and what our surroundings look like? The student who spoke of the nail salon really hit home for me. I totally related and it quite surprisingly made me sit back and think of myself in a different light. It’s true that the majority of nail salons are composed of Vietnamese workers. They work extremely hard and extremely long hours. I found myself thinking about nail salons after reading that particular section. I tried to think of a time when I went to a nail salon and it was not composed of all Vietnamese workers. I truly can not recall a time….out of hundreds of times that I have entered nail salons. I can relate my experiences to the student who spoke to that, in the sense of feeling as if the workers felt as if she and her mom were “inferior” to them. How terrible. This triggered a similar response I had to Johnson’s article and the particular question that I pondered…”Can’t we just all get along” Why is this still occurring in our world? Just as the "All Lives Matter" article pointed out that we don't treat all lives as though they matter equally. Why do some view themselves as inferior to others? Or why do people feel as though others are inferior to them?
I end this post with a particular line that grasped my attention….”do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid to address the fact that we continue to live in a world in which many are lacking true insight and have yet to develop this particular skill. Do not be afraid to recognize sources of emotional difficulty.
Michele, I really like your interpretation of the article...I appreciate your statements on "whiteness". I don't really think about this either on a daily basis. Your story on the nail salon got me to think...I too have never come across a nail salon that did not employee vietnamese workers. I liked your interpretation of the "all lives matter article".... My interpretation of that article was a little different...
ReplyDeleteMichele, I am glad that you expressed that you feel judged for being white, because although I did not put that in my post, reading the article concerning colorblindness, and even the last article by Johnson made me feel as though being white was a bad thing. Like we are the awful human beings because of our skin color. I do understand that we do have privilege's, and our knapsacks come already filled with goodies, but as a person I do not judge others and I feel as though we are being judged just because we are white. I very much liked your outlook and how you expressed what you felt.
ReplyDeleteMichele, I liked the way you expressed about the nail salon,the vietnamese workers also seem to work in this environment. The last time I got my nails done, they did not even make eye contact, even when I tried to engaged a conversation with them.
ReplyDeleteClearly, this stuff is HARD and I appreciate the dialogue that your post is inspiring here. I was truck by your discussion of insight: "Although I perceive insight as a tool, I never quite came to the realization that developing insight truly means having a skill...A skill in which must be learned and modeled in order to be achieved successfully." Perhaps this learning and modeling and practicing is what FNED 502 is all about!
ReplyDelete