Is The Color Blind - 1123 Words

While our society has pushed for a larger focus on promoting diversity and acceptance, criticisms have emerged regarding the way we discuss and analyze certain differences. This is especially present in discussions concerning race, which is often difficult to hold conversations about and can easily become controversial. Instead of easing into these issues and differences that go on between various ethnicities, many members of modern society have adopted a â€Å"color blind† approach to handling these issues. The main point of color blindness is to treat individuals as equals with various factors, such as race and ethnicity, being disregarded. While it is based on good intentions, color blindness avoids the issues surrounding differences ignores†¦show more content†¦Weddington has a majority white population, and most students enrolled in the Weddington public school system representing this demographic very well. While there were a few black, Asian and Hispanic studen ts, they mostly socialized with each other, rarely garnering any attention from their white peers, myself included. Because of this lack of exposure, I was not able to properly understand the issues facing these groups or see the reasons they were different from me outside of different physical features. In addition, no African American families lived in my neighborhood with the exception of one mixed race family, which led me to the belief that these students came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and lived in less affluent neighborhoods as a result of their parents’ poor decisions and less prominent career choices. Another reason why I lacked understanding these individuals is because of my own personal background. While I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood with majority white families, racism was ever present in the daily interactions I was exposed to within that community. A fair amount of this has to do with most families having an extensive history living in the American South, with most parents being raised during the Civil Rights Movement in mostly rural or small town communities. My parents are both examples of this, with both making occasional