when a white person says that they're "color blind" in response to discussion about racism, they think that they're saying "i am a tolerant person."
however, what they're actually saying is "i can't see racism, so i won't acknowledge it", which is a really messed up way to look at the world
closing our eyes and putting our heads in the sand doesn't make something go away. racism is here to stay until it is acknowledged, explicitly called out by name, and strongly addressed in every community.
Racism, "I don't see color"
@scarly Yeah, like, 'not seeing color' would be great if racism was solved and everyone was equal, but...it's not and everyone isn't. "I don't see color" just leads to "You said something bad about white people, so you're just as bad as the KKK near as I can tell." If you're not trying to understand racism and how people of color face unique challenges, then you're not really helping--you're just in denial.
Racism, "I don't see color"
@scarly Uh, I hope that didn't come off as explaining the obvious to anyone who already knows, especially those who know better than a white girl like me. It's more for the other white folk scrolling by. 
I think part of the issue is people misunderstanding the differences between individual behavior and cultural behavior and also not wanting to take a critical look at their own culture
Like in Evangelical Christianity for example
Evangelical Christianity is definitely homophobic. There are individual Evangelicals who are not homophobic, they may even be LGBT themselves. But the culture as a whole has a huge homophobia problem.
The same concept applies to whites in the USA and race
To continue this analogy, the non-homophobic Evangelical who still participates in right-wing Evangelical groups is still contributing to homophobia even if they personally are not homophobic.
At this point you need to acknowledge the problem and either not associate or make efforts to find like-minded people and reform from within.
Doing nothing while still remaining is not helping.
White people should be allies and help convince other White people to be allies.
Is that always true? I have my doubts.
@jankoekepan @scarly 275,000 years of mostly tribal human existence is hard to ignore. Human beings have always divided themselves into tribes -- how we thought of ourselves was always in terms us "us vs them."
I find it funny how people seem to believe that in just the last few hundred years that we've somehow evolved beyond this. Of course we haven't -- is inherent to being a human. Anyone who calls themselves "colorblind" is fooling themselves.
@jankoekepan @scarly Not everyone chooses to join the KKK, but everyone "sees" race. Of course they do.
@jankoekepan @scarly Yes -- like the song goes, "Everyone's a little bit racist, sometimes." :P
It's not because are naturally bad -- it's just biological. Like any biological impulse, not everyone acts on it. But everyone feels it.
@jankoekepan @scarly It's not useful to know that everyone is inherently biased against "the other?" That's interesting. Seems like it'd be very useful in predicting human behavior. 😆
@jankoekepan @scarly I can see we differ about whether or not "racism is a problem" (inherent or not), and that's not something I'm going to debate. Good day.
@scarly it can take such a long time to explain this to a single person too, without necessarily getting through to them permanently. Sigh.
@scarly This is also a position often taken by folks who are socially liberal/economically conservative (who are usually rich whites like Howard Schultz). They think they’re the quiet, reasonable majority, when actually under 15% of Americans think this way.