Colorblindness is White Privilege and Harmful to Black Children

Earlier this month a video went viral of two kids (best friends) getting the same hair cut to trick their teacher.

In a podcast with Raising Race Conscious Children, our founder, Trina Greene Brown, reflected on the harm that this type of “colorblind ideology” has on Black children:

 “we don’t have a choice but to talk to our young people about racism…Colorblindness is white privilege…I want to share about the impact of colorblindness on Black folks….I can imagine that that [Black] boy in the viral video could be my son, and the challenge of other folks not seeing race is that they don’t think of the potential risk, threats, and consequences that are associated with my son having Black skin…”

Similar sentiments of the threats of colorblindness are shared in this  passionate letter written by by Maralee “To the White Parents of my Black Son’s Friends”

As the parents of the white friend of my black son, I need you to be talking to your child about racism. I need you to be talking about the assumptions other people might make about my son. I need you to talk to your child about what they would do if they saw injustice happening. I know that in a white family it is easy to use words like “colorblind” and feel like we’re enlightened and progressive. But if you teach your kids to be colorblind, they may not understand the uniquely dangerous situations my child can find himself in.