Post-racial is NOT color blind

This is an excerpt from an article that made me think...

"When I was in school, I was a member of the Association for Latin American Students (ALAS), the Indian Student Association (ASHOKA), and the Asian-American Student Association (AAA). I joined them because I wanted to learn and I had friends who encouraged me to get involved. I learned about Diwali and Chinese New Year. I was able to learn because I didn’t feel insecure from the cultural differences. I didn’t feel threatened by these organizations nor did I wish or ask the question of why they existed in the first place. The flavors these people added to my life wouldn’t have happened had the university leadership or student leadership adapted the mindset of assimilation and ‘color-transparency’.

It’s being thrown around that the age of Obama brings this post-racial American time. That may well be, but the misconception lies hard in the definition of what ‘post-racial’ means. Many opinions throw the stipulation of I’m not a racist because I don’t see color. What they fail to realize is that opposite of racism is tolerance, not ignorance.

You don’t tolerate differing opinions by wishing they didn’t exist nor asking why aren’t they more mainstream. We don’t evolve into a better society until we become essentially what Barack is genetically: Both White and Black.

The day you can see a color and say ‘That is pretty cool. I am ok with that’ is the day our society becomes post-racial. To wish racial transparency is nothing more than exuding your own lack of self-identity and desire for the status quo."

http://ybpguide.com/2008/12/22/whats-with-this-whole-black-thing

This story about a white mom and her black daughter hit some of the same notes. I especially like this paragraph:

"People like to talk about being colorblind, about how we're all the same on the inside, that race shouldn't matter. I understand and don't disagree with their intent, but it seems to me that race should matter. Race is part of who we are. If I choose to disregard skin color, mine or my daughter's or anyone else's, I miss out on an integral part of what each of us brings to the table: a deep reservoir of history, culture, and beauty. Perhaps race doesn't fall into the category of qualifications, where it can easily be twisted into prejudice, but rather that of qualities, where it can inform and enrich. "

I certainly agree that I don't want my cultural identity to be simply washed under the table because as a monoracial but bicultural woman, I've found that color-blind usually means doing things the white way, and that does not leave room to encompass the whole of who I am. I want the white AND the Asian parts of me to be acceptable at the table. And I want to learn from, be enriched by, and mourn over the beauty and the pain of the experiences of those from different racial and cultural backgrounds than mine. Yet in the wider world, and especially in the media these days with the election of a biracial president, there is so much talk of seeing "past" race, talk that is coded in other words but the essence of which sounds a lot like a wish to be "color blind." It's so frustrating to hear because I don't think it's helpful to us as individuals or as a nation.

Your thoughts on any of this?

Basketball on the concrete

The favorite sight of my week so far was leaving work yesterday and seeing all of the men staying in our shelter outside playing a pickup basketball game with each other. The thunk of the ball on the concrete and against the backboard, the shouts of the men as they jostled for the ball--if I closed my eyes it could have been in a squatter community in Manila, Philippines or at a park in my own neighborhood in Pasadena.

I also had the privilege today of bringing some of my own clothes that are nice but that I don't wear very often to help out one of our clients who was homeless previously and is now living in transitional housing with her son. She put in a lot of work to become trained as a hairstylist and now with the economy the way that it is, she can't find work. I've dropped off old clothes at a Goodwill before, but that's so different that digging out your nice but rarely used clothes to give to someone that you've met. It gets a wee bit closer to satisfying the conviction of my heart when I read John's words in Luke: If you have two jackets, give one to your neighbor who doesn't have one. Now I still have way more than two jackets, but knowing that some of the clothes that were previously hanging lonely in my closet will now be used by someone who really needs it--it feels like an absolute privilege to be able to give to her.

Job Searching as a Homeless Person

I'm going to steal this link from my friend Mark on the difficulties of finding a job when homeless. It's hard enough for housed folks to find a job right now, but finding one when you are homeless has always been hard.

Road Rage

Before moving to L.A., I always had a vague idea that the only people who had road rage were those with extreme anger management issues. But road rage is a strange phenomenon in L.A.. People always seem to be angry when they are driving. I myself get angry much more easily then I ever did before. I actually almost flipped someone off the other day, which is not like me! The only reason I didn't was for fear of what they might do back. As a friend said the other day about his own road rage encounter, "I was just glad I didn't get shot."
Anger and speed seem to be part of driving culture in this city. People are always in their cars, always on the way to somewhere, and always want to get there as fast as possible. On the freeway on my commute to work, most cars are going between 70-80 miles per hour. The cars going "only" 60 make you crazy because they slow up all the traffic, with people weaving around them. So in a city that's always in a hurry, anything that slows people down even for a few seconds annoys them (I confess I have become guilty as well of this phenomenon).
If you live in LA, what do you think about road rage in the city? If you've visited, did you notice it when you were here?