5/27 "If we can't see it, then it doesn't exist"

Reading through "Colorblindness is the New Racism" by Armstrong and Wilder was reminding me of all the conversations and debates I remember hearing continually in the tragedy of 2020. The topic of colorblindness came up a lot and for good reason. I appreciate the thorough scope of this article in regards to the subject because, as I am ever-learning, I so desperately need the words and articulation of these topics in order to combat these things in myself. My white privilege is something I need to refocus on as much as I can because of how much I wouldn't notice it if I did not attempt this practice. For example, I am always fascinated by my own unawareness of how prevalent whiteness is in the media until I stop and focus on it. Thinking about it from the perspective of someone of another race, it feels so important when a POC is the center and direct focus of media. I remember how big of an impact it made when I saw Rogue One in theaters and Diego Luna used his own accent in the film. Afterward I saw someone I followed on Instagram, who was Hispanic, re-post a story about how someone's dad thought it was so cool that he had the same accent as a main protagonist Star Wars character. I could feel in that moment how special it is to see yourself reflected in the media, as much as a person who is surrounded by their reflection can. 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/rogue-one-diego-lunas-accent-gave-a-voice-a-new-set-fans-961343/

    "The emphasis on discrimination alone, as if it existed in a vacuum, obscures the operation of privilege, thus aiding in its perpetuation", this quote describes well the frustration of our current world. It's hard to fight something that people gaslight themselves and others into not seeing. You can't fight an invisible thing. As we noted in the previous text by Johnson, "Ignoring privilege keeps us in a state of unreality, by promoting the illusion that difference by itself is the problem".

    Looking for the "me" in each individual is such a sweet practice. Not in a condescending sense of the word "sweet", but to truly acknowledge that every individual can be a set of nuances all their own and attempt to find your similarities is a life-giving practice. I love that moment of finding someone that appears as though they may be my opposite, and connecting on something I never would have assumed about them. It makes the world feel a lot closer and smaller, like a big neighborhood.

    I appreciated that the authors gave a constructive practice, color insight, to combat the colorblindness rhetoric. In a classroom setting, for elementary students, I think this practice could be adapted a little and could be meaningful to start the conversation of race. I think that students this age love sharing stories so the use of the "grandmother story" would be a great opportunity for them to do some at-home research and come back to share their family history and then have the class examine which parts of the grandmother's story resonates with their own.

I also thought it was hilarious that the author used the word "piecemeal" twice in this article.

Overall, I enjoyed Armstrong and Wildman's breakdown of the importance of exposing colorblindness while offering some practices that would be easy to use in a classroom setting (no matter age of the students) to bring race into the conversation.

I could not, sadly, open the Vox article to read but did find this video from a news anchor making a personal statement about All Lives Matter vs Black Lives Matter. TRIGGER WARNING: video of police violence against George Floyd at 1:31.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgrKSsCcBLg