Katiera Sordjan | Don't be colorblind

The Melting Pot | Treating others with respect does not mean ignoring their cultural background

By Katiera Sordjan 11/12/14 9:04pm

S i nce the election of President Obama, many people have tried to claim that we are a colorblind, post-racial society. It is an all-too-common claim of tolerance, especially on a campus as culturally diverse as ours: “Some of my best friends are Black/Asian/Latino/etc.,” “I don’t see race,” “Color doesn’t matter to me.”

The notion of being colorblind is a widely claimed identity for individuals who want to express their openness and respect for all cultures, particularly when this tolerance is challenged by others. They will point to a diverse group of friends, or even a significant other, as proof of this acceptance. This is pretty common at schools such as Penn, which has students from many different countries and backgrounds.

When people say they are colorblind, they most likely mean to demonstrate that race or ethnicity do not influence their judgments of a person, or hinder their ability to be respectful towards someone else. People will be proud of themselves for not describing race when discussing another individual. This only promotes the idea that it just isn’t polite to talk about or mention race, but the racial problems of society and the conversations around them do not suddenly disappear.

Those who express the idea of colorblindness often have the privilege of not needing to constantly think in terms of race. As a person of color, I don’t get to be colorblind.

“Seeing” race doesn’t make someone a racist — reducing an individual to their race does. The pervasiveness of the idea of colorblindness has taught people to attempt to overlook race and ethnicity altogether, which prevents us from learning from each other the nuanced perspectives our individual cultures bring to the table.

As a black and Romanian-American woman, I have great pride in my rich family heritage. But I have also had to develop a strong sense of self-esteem to protect my identity from people of all races who still see the mixing of black and white as unacceptable. Throughout the course of my life, I have encountered many situations in which I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere — people often pick and choose the parts of my identity they are comfortable with and ignore the rest. I am reminded constantly of the consequences of my blackness, my biracial identity, my otherness in society.

It is clear that there are severe flaws in the way that we conceive of race. But my ethnicity, my cultural heritage, is an important part of who I am. It has shaped not only my views of myself but my outlook on life. My mother was brought up with Southern-American values that influenced the way she raised my brother and me. My grandparents were immigrants from Europe, and they encouraged my father to work hard to make a better life for himself in a new country. This was an ethic he instilled in me.

People who say they are colorblind miss the point of cultural acceptance. Yes, you should not make assumptions about me or treat me unkindly because of the color of my skin. But you should also not strip me of the rich backgrounds that have shaped my life and made me who I am today.

People of all races and ethnicities are influenced by the impact their cultures have on their upbringing and experiences, even in ways we do not immediately realize. We are a nation of many different peoples, and those varying subgroups bring different perspectives, ideals and views. We do not live in a vacuum — we are influenced by our national as well as ethnic culture.

My parents were not colorblind. They were all too aware of their racial difference and what it entailed. But it did not stop them from seeing a likeness in each other and being able to start a family. That is the true meaning of transcending intolera nce.

Katiera Sordjan is a College junior from New York studying communications. Her email address is skati@sas.upenn.edu. “The Melting Pot” appears every Thursday.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.