Ignoring race not solution

Editorial |

No problem that has been present for centuries can be resolved by suddenly pretending it isn’t there. If your car is making a strange noise and you choose to turn the radio up instead of taking it to a mechanic, it doesn’t make the problem go away. If you’ve had a bad cough for several weeks that won’t go away, and you decide to pretend it isn’t there, it doesn’t mean you’re healed. 

It’s the same way with racism. If you, like many of us, are guilty of saying, “Oh, I don’t see color,” congratulations! You’re part of the problem. Don’t worry, though. We can all do better in the future.

The thing about saying that you don’t see color is that you’re essentially removing yourself and any help you could offer from the equation. In the same way you wouldn’t tell a friend with a broken arm, “Oh, sorry, I can’t help you with that — I don’t see injuries,” saying you “don’t see color” only hides the issue from yourself. 

It’s downplaying the significance of race and racism. Even though there may be good intentions behind the words, they aren’t effective.

We are all humans, but we are so much more than that. In your next class, or even when you’re walking down the hall, take a look around you. Every person you see has a different story, a different background, different situations they’ve experienced. Race plays a big role in those differences. Trying not to acknowledge it isn’t an attempt to make everyone equal, it’s an attempt to make everyone the same. The truth is, that’s never going to happen.

Race, whether we want it to or not, plays a huge role in the experiences we have as individuals, both positive and negative. We can’t change that. We can’t make it go away by pretending not to notice each other. We’re all here, and we can’t try to change each other into something that’s just easier to deal with. We, The Ranger Staff, believe that our differences make us who we are, and we have to accept each other, however we come.

cartoon
Illustration by Katie Milburn

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