I was born color blind. I never thought of it as a problem. In fact, I thought everyone was. It was the way I was raised and as far as I knew, everyone else I knew, was raised that way, too. It’s not the color blindness that you think of, the one related to your ability to see things in color. I can see things in color, but for the most part, I’ve grown up not paying attention to the color of people’s skin. I was raised believing all people are created equally by God, regardless of their skin color.
These days saying I’m color blind in this matter may not be acceptable. I’m sorry if I have offended you. You may disagree with me, but this is how I have felt all my life. Please let me explain.
Back in elementary school, it didn’t phase me that the guy I had a crush on wasn’t white. His family came from Cuba. Later I did have a crush on a white guy, but to me, he was a good looking, older guy, not a guy with white skin. I seriously dated a white guy, and also two Koreans, both of whom were both born in Korea. One of them ended up becoming my husband. My parents never discouraged me from dating or marrying someone that wasn’t white.
My family
With my blonde-hair and blue-eyed Dutch heritage, I expected to have children that looked like me. Silly me should have checked out my date’s skin color if I really wanted blonde-haired children. I don’t think that I even realized I had given up my plan of having children that looked just like me, until after I was married. And it wasn’t a big deal.
My children ended up looking more like their father. An old woman once asked me how I was able to adopt two children that looked so much alike. I was appalled. I had given birth to them. To her it seemed to be that my husband wasn’t anything but white, just like me. Therefore the only way to get children that looked like they might be Asian was to adopt them.
I’m the different one
I’ve never felt different from my husband and children, until we were driving in Koreatown in Los Angeles, soon after the riots. The riots followed the acquittal of four policemen in the beating of Rodney King, back in 1992. Koreatown received most of the damage to their businesses. We saw some of the aftermaths. We drove through town looking for a Korean restaurant to eat lunch. And I realized that as a white person I could be seen as the enemy. There was never any need for me to be afraid, but I did see that day that being a white person could mean that I was viewed differently than my husband.
I remember when there was an uproar because of a mixed-race family in a Cheerios commercial on T.V. in 2013. By then my children were out of college. The commercial was cute to me. Those little children in commercials are always so adorable, regardless of their skin color. I couldn’t understand how some people found it to be disgusting. Was my family disgusting, or because my husband was Asian, was he more acceptable than if he had been a black man?
We are all born equal
I realize that none of us is the enemy. We are all equal in God’s eyes. It is how we are treated that causes fear and anger. And I admit there are changes that need to be made to make it really feel like we are all born equal. I can understand how this can result in protests. Because someone is protesting doesn’t mean we have to agree with them. Protesting that is non-violent is not a cause for alarm. But when rioting results and people are hurt and some are killed, and businesses are looted and burned down, the color of your skin, is not the reason. It is deeper than that.
Of course, if I were to listen to everything I hear on the news, I could think that I am one of those white people that think they are better than everyone else. One of the white people that fear people of color, because they are the ones that are always committing all the crimes. There are a lot of lies out there these days. And many of them are the result of exaggeration or of putting everyone with a certain skin color in the same box.
Not all white people are wealthy, not every Hispanic is here illegally, Asians aren’t trying to get control of our country, and neither are all black people criminals. In fact, many white people are living paycheck to paycheck and committing crimes. I don’t think I know of anyone, regardless of their skin color that is in the United States illegally. The only people I know that have committed any crimes are white. And as far as Asians go, both sides of our family have several Asians through marriage and adoption. And they are all very nice people.
Red, brown, yellow, black and white
Why should the color of skin be such a big deal? God created us all equally, in His image. And He made us a variety of colors. And that’s how I’ve always felt. I learned it in songs when I was young, “Jesus loves the little children . . . red and yellow, black and white,” which has been updated to “red, brown, yellow, black and white.” Didn’t everyone sing that and believe that? I thought we all did.
We should embrace our different cultures, races, and skin colors while celebrating our sameness. That is how God expects us to live, loving our neighbor as ourselves, regardless.
Does the color of a person’s skin affect how you treat them? Why? Have you ever been treated differently because of your skin color? Please leave a comment below.
My mom taught me growing up, “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” And everytime I was mean to someone, she always said that to me. I am 50 years old and that is how I have attempted to live my life. I can’t speak out about me being color blind because that means I am “oblivious to the world around me.” I can’t say not to judge because I have judged, I can’t say that I dont enjoy white privelage because I enjoy my freedom. But, what I cannot, never have, and never will understand is WHYYYYYYYY color MATTERS. I love black men … I think they are hot and sexy. Just saying. That is my preference. but it doesn’t have anything to do with skin color. They are just hot and sexy to me the same way that to some blue eyes and blonde harr and tiny waistlines are to someone else. I hate racism . I think it is ugly, and it is sad. I continue to wear my rose colored glasses. Because that is the world that makes the most sense to me. Any other way … just makes me anxious and it is unhealthy for me.
It is sad how racism has taken over our lives. The news is making it so center stage, yet not showing the mass destruction of cities or the deaths of small children. I, too, was always told: “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Apparently, not everyone was raised the way we were. Thanks for your comments.
We all came from the same forefather and mother, Adam and Eve. We need to have this understanding. I think if this was taught in schools, they would be less hate for people based on race.
Yes, we did. The way the world seems to be going now, I doubt that could ever be taught in public school. It’s a shame that our country is eliminating God in everything.
Needful content. Keep creating content like this! Tons of love for you
Thank you.
I have to say this is exactly how I was raised as well. I never considered skin colour when making a friend, when having a crush on a boy, when inviting a friend over to my house, ever. It was just not something I ever took into consideration. My friends were friends because of their personalities, how funny they were, the interests we had in common, etc for me skin colour never factored into it. Unfortunately today we are living in a different world, that is not to say that people of other skin colours were not discriminated against or picked on when I was a kid, they certainly were, it’s just that as far as I was concerned I would never be one of the people discriminating against them or picking on them, so honestly, I never thought about it much more than that. Of course, if I witnessed it I would speak out, speak up, I would get angry for them but I never thought about it much after. Now, it’s something on my mind all the time because we hear about it all the time. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I really can’t say. I am white, I have never been discriminated against because of my skin colour, so it’s not really something I will ever fully understand or be able to empathize (or is it sympathize?) with as I have never been in that position. That being said though I see the need now to speak out and speak up even more when I see racism, discrimination, etc because now I understand and see more of it than ever before and I feel that as a white person, ignoring it means that I am almost as bad (maybe worse?) then the person doing it. I don’t know.. just my opinion I guess but I totally agree with you and get what you’re saying because that was the way I was brought up too.
It’s nice to hear from someone that grew up like me. I think we were taught correctly. Today’s world is so different from then. Some of it has to do with how children were raised and some of it has to do with how they are treated by society. And of course their economic situation. It’s sad to see what is going on on the news, but there are still wonderful relations between white people and people of color, which are under-reported. I will always believe that we were created equally by God. Thank you for your comment.