Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Once I started college, the discussion of white privilege and racism has come up various times and I always enjoy them and occasionally I’m surprised at the lack of acknowledgement of a person’s white privilege. We touch upon these topics because in some way these intersections of our identity play a role in our lives. We talked about the 4 salient frames on Monday which I was very aware of, but I knew them as microaggressions. I took a Communication course last year that discussed microaggresions of racism. Microagressions are minor or subtle forms of belittling a person of color, women, LGBT, and other minorities. Before I lose you, I’ll use an example that is very common:
One microaggression is someone saying “I don’t see color, I see a human.” This contributes to racism because by saying “I don’t see color” it means you are taking away or erasing part of that individual’s unique identity. A big part of a person’s identity is their race or ethnicity and by striping that away from them, you are erasing their culture, history, traditions, etc. Difference is a good thing, it’s not bad. Not only that but saying that phrase can mean that you see them as “white” because no color is “white or clear.”

Something I also want to talk about something someone in our class brought up. Talking about racism in class does not contribute to racism, rather it opens a discussion about it so that people will understand the many layers that play in racism. The phrase “ignorance is bliss” does not fit in this particular topic. Because of people’s ignorance about race/ethnicity causes racism to still flow in our culture. Not only that, but one thing about racism is that it silences minorities. It does not allow us, people of color, to have a place to talk about this thing that affects us so greatly in our daily lives. The constant slurs that are said to minorities are hurtful as well as it affects our life in a way that we cannot control. That is why talking about race/ethnicity and racism is a way that minorities have a VOICE and allow white people to understand other cultures, customs, traditions, etc.