Seeing Color
I have been in management for many years. I moved to Maryland six years ago after spending my entire life in the midwest. As a manager, one of my responsibilities is the hiring for my department.
It has been over 10 years now. Interviews were being conducted for a position that is often difficult to fill, and we finally had a promising candidate. She phone interviewed well and had a nice resume. I conducted the on-site interview along with my assistant manager. After those steps were complete and I had talked it over with my assistant manager and the HR department, it was a go and I offered her the job. I was pleased when she accepted and we set a start date.
As is customary when hiring, prior to the new hire’s arrival I share with my team the news that we had filled the position. At a department meeting I made the announcement. Although her first name was Spanish, one of my all white group asked if she was black. I gave her a “deer in the headlights” look in response. My mind raced. I didn’t know what to say. Rather embarrassed, I turned to my assistant manager and said, “I don’t know, is she black?” She affirmed that she was and I turned back to the group and simply said, “Yes, I guess so…honestly I didn’t even notice.” The meeting moved on.
Over the years I have told this story again and again to support the statement and belief that I am clearly color blind. These were my thoughts:
It is a good thing.
People would be impressed.
Heads would nod in approval.
Some did nod their heads. Others looked at at me thoughtfully with little response. I now know how off-base I was in touting this behavior, this perspective.
If you look up color blindness in society in respect to race in Wikipedia, you will find this definition: “In sociology, a color blind society is one where racial classification does not limit a person’s opportunities. Such societies are free from differential legal or social treatment based on their race or color.”
For many years this was my exact position on the topic. I am now seeing that this is incorrect.
A view has emerge in the past few years as laid out in a 2015 article in The Atlantic: “Many sociologists argue that ideologies claiming not to see race risk ignoring discrimination.” (1)
I recently listened to a conversation the made it clear to me that this idea, this view, makes complete sense. The omission in noticing is inconsiderate and counterproductive. To make no consideration in the fact that someone is a different race is not just unkind it is also dishonoring of the individual. It is not something to wear as a badge of honor as I had done. Instead it has become clear to me that to honor another is to see them for who they are and the struggles they face as a person.
Racism isn’t a new societal issue. Some can argue that it has existed since the beginning of civilization. As Jesus walked this earth He too met with and responded to the discrimination of the day. Some of Jesus’ most famous parables involved Samaritans. This was a group of people that were avoided and looked down upon, even despised by the Jews. But not so for Jesus.
In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus made the Samaritan the hero as the one taking the right course of action in helping others. (See Luke 10:25-37) As Jesus ended the parable He asked the religious leader in verse 36, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?“ The answer in verse 37a is profound, as we read, “The response from the expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’“ (This was the Samaritan.)
Verse 37b gives us Jesus’s response, “Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’“
Go and do as the man, the despised Samaritan, had done. This must have been very difficult for the religious leader to swallow just as it can be difficult for many of us to esteem and value others today that are different from us.
Another time Jesus not only took time to talk to a Samaritan but a Samaritan woman, a huge societal no-no of the day. In John 4, as Jesus waited by a well while His disciples went in to town for food, He asks for a drink of water from a passerby coming to draw from the well.
In verse 9 we read, “The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’“ This woman had two cultural strikes against her but Jesus showed us she was valued. As a result she and her entire community came to know Jesus. (See John 4:1-42)
Was Jesus color blind or was He seeing color?
What am I to do in my life to follow Jesus’ lead?
I too can be intentional about honoring others and acknowledging their history, their culture and most importantly their value. This will both honor others and God. After all, each and every person is part of God’s creation, loved and treasured by the God of the universe. In the words of the Psalmist for all people, “For you (God) created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13
Who am I to have any other opinion or behavior that contradicts this?
In the words of Jesus, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37
JW
Referenced Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/color-blindness-is-counterproductive/405037/