January 19, 2022

Colorblindness vs. Multiculturism: Will You Join In?

By Kathayoon Khalil, PhD

Recently, on a snowy winter drive, I fell into a conversation with my friend and his husband on racial issues in the United States. The conversation began when my friend’s husband asked, “In America, you all talk about diversity so much. Doesn’t it just highlight peoples’ differences instead of bringing them together?” My friend is American, and his husband is Argentine; they live in Buenos Aires. I can’t really tell you how this conversation came up – it seemed to materialize organically as conversations among old friends often do.

His argument was that – compared to Argentina – people in the United States seem to discuss issues of race more frequently and the bulk of these conversations seem poised to create an increasingly divided populace. It’s an interesting observation from a variety of perspectives; the idea of being “colorblind” stems from a similar argument. Racial colorblindness is the idea that individuals don’t “see race.” In other words, they don’t take race into account when making decisions or managing relationships. The intent of colorblindness is to remove or mitigate racial bias, to live in a “post-racial” world.

Research tells us that people see racial differences in less than one-seventh of a second and start to differentiate between races at six months old (Bar-Haim, Ziv, Lamy, & Hodes, 2006; Ito & Urland, 2003). Most people are literally not “colorblind” when it comes to race – they see and clock differences almost immediately. So, does it make sense to say that we don’t see race? No. But does it make sense to act as though these differences don’t exist? Also, no. In fact, White people who avoided talking about race were perceived by Black subjects as more biased than those who discussed race openly (Apfelbaum, Sommers, & Norton, 2008) and – even worse – people who were taught to be colorblind demonstrated more pronounced racial biases later in life (this has been demonstrated in numerous studies).

Personally, the idea of being colorblind signals erasure. My family lived in an almost completely White community and went to a teeny tiny public elementary school – between the two, the motivation for assimilation was intense. My brother and I spoke English, anglicized our names, and tried to ask our parents to buy us Lunchables (they would not. Turns out everyone has their limits). But, unsurprisingly, all this did was dilute our own cultural upbringing. Other children and their families knew we different, but my brother and I lacked the vocabulary and insight to talk about these nuances and about our emerging identities as Middle Eastern/South Asian Americans. Colorblindness does a disservice to ethnic minorities, at very least because it robs us of the opportunity to fully live and share our heritage.

What’s a better way to approach these conversations? Many people suggest that instead of colorblindness, we should be teaching multiculturalism – valuing the unique perspectives that people bring from their diverse backgrounds. Multiculturalism works best when everyone participates, including those who identify as White or as a nonminority. In our facilities and organizations, this could manifest at a variety of levels, from the ways in which we develop and run programming to the organizational culture we create amongst our staff and volunteers. This approach can even show up in our institutional or departmental mission statements and core values, expressed in a way that resonates with our teams and cultures. We can approach our work from a multicultural perspective by engaging different voices in our program development or conservation work, prioritizing the experiences and ideas of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities who may not historically have been meaningfully involved in our efforts. We can also look more internally at the identities represented in our staff, volunteers, donors, boards, and partners to understand where we have particular strengths and where our blind spots might be.

Our differences don’t need to alienate us. Empathy research says that when two groups are similar, the best way to foster empathy based on true understanding is to highlight the differences. When two groups are different, focusing on the similarities is more productive. Talking about diversity has the power to make us stronger, closer, and more relevant. No one among us has all the answers, so having conversations and assisting each other in our continued learning becomes critical in creating the mutual respect and understanding we want to see. Race matters. Our individual identities matter. Ultimately, I believe our ongoing conversations about race and other dimensions of diversity are intended to create a deeper sense of unity and empathy for one another.

My conversation on that snowy drive resonates now as we reflect on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. My favorite quote by Dr. King is, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This road sometimes feels long, and I look forward, perhaps naively, to a nebulous day when we inherently appreciate others’ differences – without asking, without demanding. In the meanwhile, the best way to achieve this lofty outcome is to create safe, brave spaces in which we can share what makes us unique and encourage others to do the same.

Additional Resources:

  • Apfelbaum, E. P., Norton, M., Sommers, S. Racial Color Blindness: Emergence, Practice, and Implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 21 (3), 205-209.

  • Bar-Haim, Y., Ziv, T., Lamy, D., & Hodes, R. M. (2006). Nature and nurture in own-race face processing. Psychological Science, 17, 159–163.

  • Ito, T. A., & Urland, G. R. (2003). Race and gender on the brain: Electrocortical measures of attention to the race and gender of multiply categorizable individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 616–626.

  • Apfelbaum, E. P., Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 918–932.

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