“Please do not say that you’re trying to get rid of those 'nasty little race boxes’ on account of me. Because I did not ask for it.”-- mixed race person
Commentary by SDG DiamondHead
In contrast to lofty visions of a "race-less" society, I do not believe that the abolition of race is at all necessary. And I reject the ludicrous notion of some on the far right that it would somehow be “beneficial” to society to dismantle the races. Being bi-racial of Jewish/Black descent, I also resent that mixed race people have been dragged into this argument for doing away with race data collection--as if in doing so, this act would single-handedly lead us all into a new, glorious and color-blind "utopia".
Personally do not want to see the bureaucratic dismantling of the Black or White race or Asians…any race. However altruistic on the surface this vision may appear, flip it over to the underbelly and you will discover in contrast, a vision which is at best unrealistic and at worst, very sinister. Why? Because at best, eliminating race via the discontinuation of race data collection will solve absolutely nothing. At worst, the reality of a race-less, so-called “color-blind” society could ultimately encourage a much more dangerous and polarized society than we have ever known.
How modern technology could make a so-called “color-blind” society a more dangerous place for minorities
With the use of modern technology including non-lethal devices (internet hacking, GPS, cellular “bug phones”, tracking devices often used in connection with covert crimes), with corruption, secrecy and the escape hatch know as plausible deniability, there could literally be no end to the crimes that racists, extremist right wing hate groups and even very corrupt officials, could commit against minorities and the potential harm they could do to society.
During World War II tens of thousands of ordinary everyday citizens were willing assistants to the Nazis in the betrayal, persecution and killing of millions of Jews. Hitler’s willing executioners of the past could become the citizen executioners of tomorrow. Indeed, some are the out of control, sadistic hate-stalkers of today, who derive some sick sense of satisfaction from destroying the lives of innocent people.
Misguided, racist sociopaths...angry people on the fringes of our society or economy, who feeling powerless, seek to “correct” things not through seeking fair and just lawmaking but through lawlessness. Being totally misguided and exploited by political influences and hate groups, these borderline insane people seek "purpose" through participation in hate crimes. According to private investigator and author David Lawson, some become permanently trapped in this criminal activity--held bound for life and controlled through fear-mongering and intimidation by others in their circles of hate.
Years ago in the South, thousands of so-called "ordinary citizens" attended lynchings of Blacks, where hanging victims wasn't enough. Burning and mutilation of the victim's bodies also happened. Incredibly, some of these "ordinary citizens" even brought their young children to witness these grisly atrocities. The unspeakable crimes of the past serve as a warning to us all about what “ordinary” citizens can and will do. Therefore it is unrealistic to think that minorities can count on all Americans to be magically stricken with racial amnesia and willing to simply lay aside hundreds of years of still unresolved racial issues for the sake of a new utopist so-called, "color-blind" society. As long as unsettled issues regarding race are in the human heart, it is in the place where it has the potential to do the most harm. I do not believe that by simply outlawing race and race data collection, this will remove racism from a person's heart. There has to be a better way.
A forced “color-blind” system (were it to come to fruition) would unintentionally give racists a kind of green light to treat the objects of their hate in unlawful ways. And this could leave victims with little to no means of redress. With race data collection a thing of the past, how could there be official records of hate crimes? And with no official way to bring these hate crimes to light, what position could that leave hate crimes victims in? What must be considered is however well intentioned true color-blindness may seem, it is not a dream shared by all members of society. It is not a thing that everyone wants or is even concerned with. And it is naïve to think that if it were to someday become a reality, everyone would merely agree go along with all of the unspoken rules of such a new social order. The vicious backlash over Barack Obama becoming President gives us more than a rough idea of what we could expect.
There is a danger in underestimating the harm they would do...the field day that white supremacist groups, right wing extremists, neo-nazis and other such sickos would have in a new “no race” America.
With official record keeping of hate crimes no longer in place (since officially there is no race), racists and extremists could manipulate, oppress, even kill minorities members and members of various religious groups and quite conceivably get away with these hate crimes. France’s experience may be a lesson to us on the dangers of “color-blindness”. France’s social experiment holds a warning to us about the danger of trying to force color-blindness onto an imperfect world. After over twenty-eight years, France’s attempts at achieving equality and justice for all its citizens through a color-blind system have failed. How therefore, would America fare in such a future society where ‘racism can no longer officially be the cause of your complaint’? Would we be abolishing accountability along with abolishing race? Again, let us look to France for that answer:
“Something analogous is at work in France: ‘The state claims to be colorblind, [but] society still is not,’ Newsweek proclaimed, referring to France’s unwillingness to take account of ethnicity when fighting discrimination. The policy of blindness to ethnic difference, made official in a 1978 law that forbade the state to collect data on ethnic or racial origins, does indeed hamper the state in creating substantive equality for all its citizens. But the problem goes beyond the state’s incapacities in fighting discrimination to the state’s role in creating the discrimination that violates republican principles. France’s Revolt: Can the Republic live up to its ideals? By John R. Bowen
“This will take a revolution in French thinking about integration, but there are signs that the recent violence has begun to persuade some policymakers that they’ll have to overhaul their color-blind ideals of citizenship and face up to the existence of ethnic minorities.”--Next French revolution: a less colorblind society The Christian Science Monitor November 14, 2005
In conclusion
It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that a so-called color-blind society isn’t going to work any better in America than it has in France. There are too many fearful, racist, angry people in our country still. And law-abiding citizens need the protection that most forms of race data collection can help provide. In part, race data collection is a system of protection.
Without the official existence of race, racially motivated crimes (hate crimes) would not be recorded, reported, investigated, brought to trial or in any manner addressed as they should be. Victims of hate crimes would be left without legal redress and nearly as helpless as lynching victims of the past. Unfortunately, this is precisely the kind of scenario that some people want.
Color-blindness may work well in Heaven. But here on battlefield earth, we are light years away.
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