I wonder how much of the "I don't see colour" argument comes from a generation which was taught to call all black people "African American" -- even those from Jamaica and Trinidad and Barbados?!
Remember that a whole generation or two of well-meaning "whites" were taught that to speak of skin colour was somehow to participate in discrimination, and so we got ethnic and socio-cultural and racial concepts all mixed up.
I find the whole categorization question problematic, in any case. Labelling people by skin colour brushes over cultural and ethnic differences (so that my Trinidadian and Jamaican friends are labelled not "black" enough because they are unabashedly themselves, rather than "African-American," inside their deep chocolate-black skin.)
I think maybe we just have to let people identify themselves, rather than forcing categories on them.
I must admit, though, that I don't see God in a body at all -- except inasmuch as God works in and through all of us, and thus wears every body [s]he has ever created.
That's interesting, but to avoid the fact of or refuse to acknowledge someone's skin color is to still identify that person's color as bad or as inferior thus dehumanizing or rendering that person's existential experiences as invisible or invalid. You come in a different package than I do and your experiences reflect the package you have lived in. If I am to accept you and love you as my sister in Christ than I should be able to love you in the skin you are in and with the socio-cultural context that you bring with you into the relationship, whatever they might be, granted they are ethical. I do not say when I look at you that I don't see color because that is ridiculous. I want to see your color, your experiences, your culture, and even your faults and frailties because in seeing all of these attributes of your total package I see not only you but all that God has created in you
( ... )
I agree with you -- I don't think we're saying different things. I just think that we need to be careful to honour the identities people claim for themselves, as much as that is possible.
And yes, that is much harder work than labelling and categorizing those around us. :)
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Remember that a whole generation or two of well-meaning "whites" were taught that to speak of skin colour was somehow to participate in discrimination, and so we got ethnic and socio-cultural and racial concepts all mixed up.
I find the whole categorization question problematic, in any case. Labelling people by skin colour brushes over cultural and ethnic differences (so that my Trinidadian and Jamaican friends are labelled not "black" enough because they are unabashedly themselves, rather than "African-American," inside their deep chocolate-black skin.)
I think maybe we just have to let people identify themselves, rather than forcing categories on them.
I must admit, though, that I don't see God in a body at all -- except inasmuch as God works in and through all of us, and thus wears every body [s]he has ever created.
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And yes, that is much harder work than labelling and categorizing those around us. :)
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Peace.
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