While you may think that saying ‘I don’t see colour’ is a nice thing to say, Dr Adrienne Milner and Krishen Samuel suggest otherwise, and explain why we need to be better at calling out similar types of covert racism.
By Dr Adrian Milner and Krishen Samuel
1. Stop saying you don’t see colour - this is colourblind racism
Oftentimes, the BIPOC community hear the phrase ‘Don’t worry I’m not racist, I don’t see colour!’ While you may think this is a way to show your support or to absolve yourself of racism, it actually is a form of covert racism. Why? Well, by saying this you are implying that you don’t see them for who they are, you don’t see or recognise the disadvantage that they have had just because of the colour of their skin. In other words, this phrase erases their lived experience.
As Krishen spoke to Dr Adrienne, he mentioned the hypocrisy in this statement. Often, white people will say they don’t see colour but the second they don’t get an opportunity because a BIPOC member is given the opportunity (this could be a job, position, etc.) they are often quick to say ‘Oh they just got that because they’re black.’ So you do see colour then! Oh the irony..
2. Affirmative action is needed - and sometimes that means we have to lose out
Affirmative action has been the subject of a lot of controversy for quite some time. For those of you that aren’t familiar with it, affirmative action is a policy adopted by businesses and government entities through which a person’s race, sex, religion or nationality are taken into consideration to increase equal opportunities for an underrepresented part of society (namely the BIPOC community). In other words, it means that employers recognise the disadvantage that these parts of society have experienced and help to address this.
This has come under a lot of scrutiny in recent history, as people think that jobs are being given to people who aren’t qualified or experienced enough for the position, and again are only getting the opportunity because they are a minority. Adrienne rightly pointed out that this is something we need to get over - white people have had the advantage practically since the start of time, so we don’t really have a leg to stand on here.
3. We need to be more confident in calling out overt and covert racism
I think, as a society, we are getting better at calling out and condemning overt racism (just look at all the change that the recent protests have instigated!) However, without being too disheartening, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are far more insidious, covert forms of racism that we need to address. Covert racism is basically weaved into the fabric of our society, and takes its form in so many ways: the language that we use, the way we teach history, silently fearing people of colour, cultural appropriation through clothing and music etc.
What was really great to hear was Krishen and Adrienne's sheer honesty about examples of internal bias in their own lives. For Krishen, he mentioned how a lot of people in South Africa (on occasion himself included) judge each other’s level of education based on how well they can speak English. For those of you not super familiar with South Africa's most-spoken languages, Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans are what are predominantly spoken, with English only making up about 9%. So to judge someone’s intelligence on how well they speak English is misplaced and incredibly harmful.
We need to become more confident in calling out these types of racism, even if it means falling out with a friend, or risking a job opportunity. Krishen made an astute point - when the status quo benefits us, we don’t feel much motivation to change it. I totally agree - a lot of us don’t want to stray away from our comfort zones. But again, comfort doesn’t bring change. Discomfort creates growth.
dr adrienne milner
Dr Milner is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Health Sciences, and studies racial and sexual attitudes, policy preferences and inequality to examine issues such as police brutality, discrimination of transgender individuals, and affirmative action.
krishen samuel
A global health scholar, HIV activist and LGBTQ commentator. Krishen has spoken and written extensively about his experiences of living with HIV, being a gay man of colour and other intersectional topics.
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