Love May Indeed See No Color; But Until We're Loving, What Should We Do?

"Love Sees No Color" was a popular slogan in the late '80s and early '90s when Americans were trying to show South Africa how messed up their system of apartheid was.  Call it virtue signaling if you must because it may not have worked in eliminating racism, but I'm pretty sure in some small degree it helped end apartheid. More importantly it made individuals think. 

 

The simple slogan also gave your brain a vision and focus: to love regardless of one's skin color.

 

Today the new narrative from most on the American left is: "You better see color or you'll not be able to fully understand the plight of People Of Color!"

 

This just seems a poor strategy for gaining allies. Anti-racists have allies already: Most everyone! Hardly anyone thinks that one race is superior to another. Pushing a "we're different than you" narrative seems counterproductive. It's basically reinstating apartheid in our minds.

 

"You better see color" offers no solution, especially when coupled with the other leftist declaration: "white people CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND the experience of black people". 

 

Wait...what?

 

It seems a tiny difference but a very important nuance to emphasize. Our insistence of declaring it "systemic racism" rather than "a system that promotes racism", demands people judge blacks and whites by the color of their skin. The term itself requires us to be racist! 

 

It's circular reasoning that's unnecessary. A person already aware that racial differences shouldn't matter doesn't need to be reminded that we are different. It's an unnecessary redundancy (much like "All Lives Matter").

 

Nonetheless the "solution" those on the left leave us is to mentally segregate people.  How is this helpful? It's literally putting apartheid back into one's heart! Segregation and apartheid are things the left used to fight against!

 

The focus instead needs to be on the disparities of wealth which have a much greater impact on "privilege" than skin color. 

 

Unfortunately even hinting that "Poor Lives Matter" in the current climate, is seen as somehow infringing on or even hijacking the message of black people.

 

That's just not true. Because people who experience the greatest hardship and are the most underprivileged are poor - a majority of whom are also black!

 

There's a huge difference between systemic racism (which perpetuates itself due to a system we have yet to fix) and individual racism (which can only change by an individual making a choice). 

 

The narrative of emphasizing skin color and painting every act of police brutality and overreach as "racist" does nothing to address the systemic problem that's causing all the violence and abuses of power. 

 

Do we want a color blind society or a society blinded due to color?

 

Poor whites are being abused. Black cops are misusing their authority. No matter what the statistics are regarding frequency, they're irrelevant to this fact. 

 

The left must shift the narrative to focus more broadly on income disparity otherwise you're playing into the same handbook of the bigoted far right, who ALSO differentiate over skin color! In addition, you alienate most of the "love sees no color" contingent.

 

My dream is that BLM can shift its focus and coalesce with those who understand the root cause of systemic racism is our messed up system of Capitalism. A system where we focus on profit for things that should be necessities. This is what needs to be overhauled. 

 

"I see color" is true but unnecessary just as "all lives matter" is true but unnecessary. 

 

Of course all lives matter! Of course everyone sees color! What you do AFTER you see color is what counts. I would suggest "love" is the best option. Then skin color's relevancy fades away and it's the content of ones character that is seen and expressed.

 

"Love Sees No Color."  In the truest sense, yes. But in the slogan also include "Love (and Hate and Division) Should Not Be Because of Color" either.

 
Author's Notes/Comments: 

2020

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