Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle April 24, 2019
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
On the Fallacy of Color ‘Blindness’
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
What happens when you say ‘I don’t see color…’
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
W
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2017
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d ay ! • L i ke u s o
hat is the fallacy
when someone says,
“I don’t see color?”
Immediately, when
someone says this to me, a
woman of color, two thoughts
cross my mind. The first one
is, “Is there some congenital
abnormality that negates the
ability to perceive colors?”
The second, if more visceral:
“If you don’t see color, does
that render me invisible, un-
important, or not worthy to
be seen?”
This statement prickles the
hairs on the back of my neck.
For, too often, these words are
spoken by a White person to
someone Black or brown.
It almost fits into the trite
utterance of “I have some (or
a) Black (or brown) friends,”
or, another, “You are not like
them.” So, if you do not see
color, how do you know you
have some friends of color or
that I am not like the illusive
“them,” presumably others of
color?
Many of us have prejudices
and/or stereotypes of those
Barbara Parks-Lee,
Ph.D., CF, NBCT (ret.)
NNPA ESSA Awareness
Campaign
we view as “other” or ones
different from ourselves in
some way. It might be that
culture, religious belief, eth-
nicity, gender, class, marital
status, socio-economic status,
“
Regardless of
the injury, all
people’s blood
is red and all
of us can hurt
or grieve,
regardless of
color
or one or more of the –isms
influence our perceptions.
Some biases are so inculcated
that, from infancy, we are pro-
grammed to have fears, ste-
reotypes, and negative views
of those unlike ourselves.
One part of this kind of fal-
lacious thinking may hinge
on the fact that in order for
some groups to feel righteous
and superior, other groups
must have to be viewed as
dangerous and/or inferior.
Our perceptions of the val-
ue of ourselves and others of-
ten determine our treatment
of and reactions toward those
we view as less than or not
as valued. Wars are fought
over cultural and religious
differences. Regardless of the
injury, all people’s blood is
red and all of us can hurt or
grieve, regardless of color.
In the classrooms across the
United States, many children
of color — and we all have a
color — are castigated, segre-
gated, and under-educated by
least-qualified teachers who
are sent in to work with chil-
dren most needy.
As our schools become more
multicultural, many of their
teachers are becoming more
monocultural and unpre-
pared to acknowledge cultur-
al differences, different styles
of learning, or ways of show-
ing respect and tolerance.
The resulting revolving door
of teachers who hone their
craft on these children not
like themselves often exacer-
bates the underachievement
of students and the continual
decline of the public-school
system as we know it.
Until all of us are willing to
forego our color and cultur-
al blindness, we perpetuate
students being placed on an
assembly line to mediocri-
ty, frustration, and wasted,
unacknowledged potential.
This, in no way applies to all
teachers, for many teachers
are diligent, dedicated, and
hard-working people who
care and who have students,
many of whom, succeed in
spite of the odds against them.
However, to “not see color
“is, to a person of a differ-
ent color, the height of insult
from an arrogant, insecure,
ignorant, condescending —
even if unintentional — racist
person!
Are Blacks Close to Receiving Reparations?
info@theskanner.com
to
y •
Opinion
Understanding the Importance of H.R. 40: Commission to Study and Develop
Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act
B
lacks have been trying
to level the economic
and societal playing
fields in this country for
some time. When it comes to
the concept of granting “rep-
arations” to Black people as
a form of restitution for the
years that Blacks spent sub-
jected to the barbaric insti-
tution of slavery in America,
it has seemingly been over-
looked and ignored by the ma-
jority of legislators that have
come and gone in the U.S. Con-
gress.
Many Blacks have heard
and even used the phrase, “40
acres and a mule,” which was
a guarantee made to former-
ly enslaved people of African
descent that was the first at-
tempt at seeking to provide
some form of reparations
to Blacks who had been en-
slaved.
Of course, history shows us
that the decision makers who
talked about the idea of pro-
viding reparations to people
of African descent who were
previously enslaved, reneged
on their promise, leaving
Blacks to work harder and
longer to achieve success
than those who had enslaved
them to begin with. This has
proven to be extremely chal-
lenging for Blacks.
U.S. history has set prece-
dent for providing repara-
tions to several groups, in-
cluding Japanese Americans,
who have suffered challenges.
In 1942, during World War
II, the U.S. created internment
camps where roughly 125,000
Jeffrey L.
Boney
NNPA
Political
Analyst
people of Japanese descent
were essentially enslaved as
a result of an executive order
from then-president Frank-
lin Delano Roosevelt. The ra-
tionale for their inhumane
detention was that people of
Japanese descent were sus-
pected to have been conspir-
ing against the U.S.
Sadly, many of these people
were American citizens, but
that did not matter because
they were forcibly detained
and made to move from their
homes to the internment
camps.
Congress decided to insti-
tute a reparation fund after
recognizing the actions of
the U.S. government resulted
in estimated losses of several
billion dollars sustained due
to the loss of property and
the ability to make a living
suffered by those of Japanese
descent.
As a result, each survivor
was eventually awarded
$20,000, with approximate-
ly 80,000 people of Japanese
descent claiming the repara-
tions that they were entitled
to.
This action cost the U.S. gov-
ernment approximately $1.6
billion in reparations and re-
mains a dark stain on Ameri-
ca’s history.
Here in America, descen-
dants of the people of African
descent that were enslaved
and experienced some of
the cruelest ordeals imagin-
able, should be looked upon
no differently than any oth-
er group. As with Japanese
Americans during and after
World War II, African Amer-
icans continue to experience
their own unique challenges
and issues.
From a historical perspec-
“
African
Americans
continue to
suffer debil-
itating eco-
nomic, edu-
cational, and
health hard-
ships
tive, approximately 4,000,000
Africans and their descen-
dants were enslaved in the
U.S. and colonies that became
the U.S. from 1619 to 1865. The
institution of slavery was
constitutionally and statu-
torily sanctioned by the U.S.
from 1789 through 1865.
African Americans con-
tinue to suffer debilitating
economic, educational, and
health hardships, including
but not limited to the nearly
1,000,000 Black people incar-
cerated, an unemployment
rate that is more than twice
the current unemployment
rate of Whites, and an aver-
age wealth of less than 1⁄16 of
that of White families, a dis-
parity which has worsened,
not improved, over time.
While the focus has been
on highlighting the social ef-
fects of slavery and segrega-
tion, the continuing economic
implications remain largely
ignored by mainstream anal-
ysis. These economic issues
are the root cause of many
critical issues in the African
American community today,
such as education, healthcare
and criminal justice policy,
including policing practices.
The call for reparations rep-
resents a commitment to en-
ter a constructive dialogue on
the role of slavery and racism
in shaping present-day condi-
tions in our community and
American society.
Former U.S. Congressman
John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) once
proposed creating a Com-
mission to study how to ap-
propriately compensate the
descendants of slaves for de-
cades, with those conversa-
tions falling on deaf ears.
Understanding the unique
challenges
that
African
Americans face here in
America, U.S. Congresswom-
an Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
is hoping that a bill she is now
championing, in the spirit of
former Rep. Conyers, gets the
level of support and traction
needed.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
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