It’s been a while since I have written about sociocultural competence, but a number of you have asked that I re-approach the topic, especially when it comes to the idea of being colorblind.  To be fair, many of us grew up in the “colorblind era” when the topic of race was taboo.  We were taught that the best of us were in fact colorblind.  Today, you might have heard that to say you are colorblind when it comes to race is racist. What changed?

First, as many of you have read through my articles, I personally believe that the word `racist’ is overused. While any of us can be influenced by racist structures or engage in racist actions, for a person to be `racist,’ I do believe that there needs to be harmful intent. So rest assured that if you have ever called yourself `colorblind’ when it comes to race, I am not calling you racist for it.

But if you believe that you are `colorblind’ when it comes to race, I also don’t think you are being honest with yourself.  To be colorblind when it comes to race is to simply not notice something that is in your face. The reality is that we do notice if the person in front of us appears male or female, tall or short, blonde or brunette, and we do notice race. In fact, babies as young as 3 months old have been found to stare longer at an unfamiliar face of a different race than they are than at an unfamiliar face of the same race, demonstrating how visual humans are. We can’t help but notice these things.

And why should we not notice race? Although race is a social concept rather than a biological one, it is an integral part of many of our identities. I am South Asian; I look South Asian, and my experiences are shaped by that identity. To not notice that reality would be to not notice me. 

When noticing race starts to become problematic is when we start to make incorrect assumptions based on what we notice. Because our brains work schematically, we naturally start to pick up clues about the other person when we notice race. Schema theory states that our brains take the 11 million bits of information that we receive every second and try to organize the information into digestible categories or schemas. Therefore, if we see a person who is Asian, we may assume that they have ties to another culture, or we may expect the person to speak with an accent.  Are these assumptions always right?  Of course not. In fact, the person who appears Asian may have ancestry in the United States that stretches back to the 1800s and therefore, no connections whatsoever to another culture. And voicing these assumptions can cause harm by making the individual feel like they can never belong.

And of course, these assumptions can cause more than emotional damage.  For instance, assuming that someone is less intelligent or less likely to be able to lead because of racial stereotypes can lead to career harm. And assumptions related to criminality can lead to physical harm or even death.

To deny that we notice race or that we make assumptions based on it is to deny that we are human. Therefore, during the 80’s and 90’s when colorblindness was the aspiration, society asked us to do something impossible or to at least claim that what we were doing something impossible. Instead, what we need to do is critically think about the assumptions we make when we do notice race. For instance, are we assuming that someone who is Asian is not from the United States? Is that a fair assumption? Why or why not? If we assume that someone who appears Hispanic is undocumented, is that a fair assumption? Why or why not? And each time we make an assumption that we have already challenged in our minds, we need to remind ourselves why the assumption is problematic and the harm these assumptions can cause. 

And perhaps instead of saying that we are colorblind, we can say what we really mean. “I do my best not to judge or harm others based on race.” Because in the end, that is the goal.