Honey, Sweetie - Our Race Matters & Your Colorblindness is Harmful AF. Signed, a Pissed Off Black American Woman
For the first time in my life, I got called a racist because I did not agree with an 1800-century minded Bible-thumping (yes, I am a Christian), colorblind, woe is me, “feminist wasn’t made for anyone - including the white woman” thinking, love conquers all even overt racial violence, arguably stating that everyone suffers the same - white woman.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t see color,” and then choose to cut you off every other word and overtalk you (loudly) when you try to articulate your perspective (even though you let them get their FULL point across)…. But they say they don’t argue.
Oh, and they mock you, however they claim to stand with you in solidarity.
Being loud and wrong does not equate to correctness. You’re just blaringly invalid.
Yes, in the Book of Matthew, it does say to “love your enemies,” however, it never says to agree with blindness to destruction and reality in order to coddle anyone. The inability to accept that slavery has created a series of unfortunate effects throughout generations of Blacks in America - that’s dangerous and I will always stand with the facts and statistics.
It’s not to create white guilt. I promise. It’s not to conjure up guilt from anyone if we are being completely honest. That would be asinine. It is, however, to admit that there are structural disparities that still impact minorities at a disadvantaged rate in the United States based on data and fact.
One admitting that they don’t see color is often said with good intentions (until it’s not), as if neutrality equals fairness. But here’s the most radical truth: colorblindness doesn’t heal – it hides, it divides more than brings people together.
Desmond Tutu said it best, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Race matters. Ethnicity matters. Systemic injustices matter. Inequalities matter. The feminist movement matters. Revolutionists matter. The slogan that Black Lives Matter matters (although the organization itself could really utilize some assistance in regrouping after mismanagement). Your struggle matters. My struggle matters. It all matters.
Not because it defines our human or social worth, injustice capacity or pain tolerance level, but because ignoring historical data and current realities denies the present material of our lived experiences.
Race Shapes Experience
Race is not just a demographic box I check off on a form that inquires about the percentage of melanin in my pigmentation. It is a lens through which many of us are seen, judged, and treated, oftentimes unfairly.
It impacts:
The opportunities offered – or withheld (whether it’s programs, jobs, etc.)
The neighborhoods we grow up in
The safety we feel walking into a room
How fast our heartbeats go when we are pulled over
The assumptions made about our intelligence, our potential, and even our humanity
To say race doesn’t matter, and it’s just utilized as a division mechanism and everyone is created equal, is to overlook how deeply it influences the everyday lives of millions of people. Just because you couldn’t get “$50 in food stamps and a $300 tax credit,” doesn’t mean that you face the same amalgamations as others in the country. It is not a fair assessment to state that just because you’ve been to jail is the same exact thing as State Rep. Nicole Collier being refused from leaving the House in Texas.
Then when the facts were brought forth of the obvious difference, I am asked, “Are you saying that my experience is not valid?!”
No no. Your experience is valid, but they do not compare because they were under two very different circumstances.
Race Isn’t Biological, but Racism Is Real
There’s no genetic basis for race. Yet, society has given skin color, hair texture, and cultural identity a weight that creates very real consequences.
Generations denied access to wealth-building opportunities through housing discrimination
Schools funded in ways that privilege some children over others
Healthcare systems that often dismiss the pain of Black women
Persistent wage gaps across communities of color
These are not accidents. They are outcomes of systems built to advantage some while disadvantaged others. We cannot successfully dismantle what we refuse to name.
Race Matters Because Truth Matters
Talking about race doesn’t divide us, it allows us to tell the truth.
When we center race in our conversations, we:
Acknowledge history
Recognize inequity
Hold space for voices that have too often been ignored
Move from awareness to accountability
Silence protects privilege and creates bullshit like “I don’t see color,” or even allows white women to say, “I have suffered the same as Black women.” Discussing the discomforting truth, however, creates the possibility of change.
Race Matters Because People Matter
To say race matters is really to say: people matter.
Your Blackness matters.
Your Brownness matters.
Your Whiteness matters – when it leans into equity, not just comfort.
Your Indigenous heritage matters.
Your Asian identity matters.
Your multiracial experience matters.
The possibility of unification doesn’t come from erasing differences. It comes from honoring it and creating a world where every difference can thrive.
What We Can Do (After Acknowledging that Black People in America have Inherently Suffered More than Our Counterparts, Historically-Proven of Course)
First of all, identifying that race matters is only the beginning. What matters next is what we do as a people to ensure that the regression of how far we have come does not continue to take effect:
Listen AND Don’t Interrupt People Mid-Sentence to Overtalk Them. Believe the stories people tell about how race has shaped their lives and don’t ask if your pain and suffering is not equivalent because you are a human. Minimizing other’s pain doesn’t mean that yours takes the forefront.
Learn. Study the systems that created inequities. Unlearn the myths of neutrality, because you are inadvertently agreeing with the oppressor when you “Switzerland.”
Speak Up. Racism thrives in silence.
Support Equity. Push for fairness in leadership, education, healthcare, housing, and policy.
Reflect Inward. Bias is human. Growth is intentional.
Final Thoughts
Race matters because justice matters.
Because history matters.
Because people matter.
Because we matter.
We cannot change what we will not name.
And we cannot heal what we refuse to face.
The work of justice begins with truth, and the truth is simple: Race Matters.
Well, look at that. I am not intolerant of others afterall. I am simply a Black woman in America who is pissed off and tired of others dismissing the very realizations in history books (that it is even written in properly), on news stations and from lived experiences just because you’re scared of the world we live in. Although, if bringing to the forefront and acknowledging very real situations make me less than you, well – Hmm, I guess I don’t give a damn what you think after all. Smooches! 💋
