Yes, I see color

“…I have concluded that for the most part such comments (“I don’t see color”) are an attempt to communicate a willingness to see beyond color. That’s admirable, but proclaiming not to see color does not get that point across very well. White people who are determined to confront racism in the outer world and in their inner world need to reflect deeply upon what it means to declare such a position. One’s skin color happens to matter and in their inner world need to reflect deeply upon what it means to declare such a position. One’s skin color happens to matter in a land that is stratified on race. So to declare that you do not see that color is not a compliment but a denigration. It says, I will not take into consideration your experience as a person living in that body with that skin, and I will assign you whatever is being assigned to help me in navigating this space with you. There is a definite arrogance inherent in this declaration that is actually proclaiming an intention to see persons of color as they imagine them rather than as they are.” — Catherine Meeks, The Night is Long but Light Comes with the Morning, p. 95