Hey there, I was wondering if I’m the only one who feels like this or not.
So I grew up thinking that we people all look different and never had a concept of something such as “white” and “black” people.
But especially in the last years I noticed more and more that a lot of people make such a big thing out of whether someone is “black” or “white” and what their ethnicity is.
It feels like it’s to the point where they make this define their core identity as if it’s very relevant how people look and how bright/dark their skin is as if this changes their personality.
It’s like so many of these people constantly bring this up to the point where it’s brainwashing and they literally even use racial slur as slang that was used in the past to devalue and enslave people based on their skin tone.
Since I experienced this it made me very uncomfortable since I never had this concept before and now I constantly have to obsessively think about it and feel like it’s manipulating me and these people still bring it up all the time.
I think this is driving me insane cause I never would think about humans so strongly because of their skin or something since it simply isn’t relevant and it just feels wrong but I can’t escape it since so many people continue to make such a big deal out of it.
Edit: To the people saying people have different advantages because of their skin, I’m fully aware of that and I wasn’t intending to debate that. My question was primarily about if other people have the same uncomfortable feeling that many people differentiate between people based on their skin and make such a big deal out of it (so more a personal feelings question than a generale debate about why it exists) because imo in a healthy society this shouldn’t be the case. But in my opinion the fact that we continue this behaviour instead of changing it is the exact reason we have racism and the issues of inequality based on someone’s skin in the first place. We need to start to change at some place and not just give up on it. If we continue to see people as “black” or “white” instead of just seeing them as “people” and only look at the past we will never end this issue. Ignorance is certainly not the solution. I found these videos where I think Elon Musk and Morgan Freeman are pretty much hitting the nail on the head. (And yes I’m American if that matters)
Ok, I’ll bite. Just because you grew up not having to consider the color of your skin doesn’t mean other people had that same privilege. I wish I could say that ethnicity doesn’t matter, but people here will absolutely treat you differently because of race, whether it makes sense or not. The fact is that “not seeing race” is something you only have the privilege of when you are not in the minority race. Interestingly enough, while I am a very clearly black man, my mixed half sister (32) has faced more direct racism than me, starting from as early as second grade. Her also mixed daughter (15) also gets called the n word at school regularly. You’re right that it shouldn’t matter but it does to enough people that it can’t just be ignored.
Imo that’s why we need to stop doing it. Maybe it’s too hard to do idk but it makes me feel uncomfortable when people see me or others as a color.
Yes, that’s exactly it. In a world where a man can wrongfully accuse Haitian migrants, people of color, of eating pets and not only get away with it but be elected president, it is too hard. I understand that it’s uncomfortable but asking people to try to pretend race doesn’t matter is like asking a runner to keep running on a broken leg. When injuries are really bad you have to acknowledge the damage, sometimes for a long while, before it heals away.
Giving up on changing certainly also isn’t the solution. We always need to stay optimistic and try our best to better ourself
You will note that I never advocated for giving up. Huge difference between informed healing and giving up.