Color Blind (a.k.a. “I Don’t See Color) –

for the white people who haven’t already been convinced that our black peers can’t find justice in US

Nearly all colloquialisms about blindness

are negative –  

a lazy way of expressing

frustration

with willful ignorance

or being taken advantage of.

 

I wonder why, then,

white people

turn to

color blindness

as a sign of purported evolution:

(I’m not racist)

“I’m color blind!”

 

Or “I don’t see color.”

 

I can’t help but imagine

the people they see

as outlines devoid of substance

like coloring books for white children

to bring to life

with the imagination

they are encouraged to indulge.

 

Or crime scene tape

holding the lives they took away

from those with black skin.

 

If they broke it down,

perhaps they’d realize

that despite their best intentions,

this attempt to be literal

just reinforces the usual metaphor –

Willful ignorance

of centuries

of institutionalized racism

white supremacy

and the power to determine

when and which colors

to see.