written by MATTHEW CORNWALL photo illustration by ACQUILLE DUNKLEY
W
elcome to a post-racial American society. There have been two terms of a half-black president, there’s usually at least one token minority on every TV show and it’s a popular belief that Martin Luther King Jr. “died for the freedom of black people.”
SCAN MAGAZINE // FALL 2015
These events, along with others, have led
Phrases like “I don’t see color” and “race
people to believe that racism is over in
doesn’t affect me” are used by people
modern society. Not only is this far from
who want to sound politically correct when
the truth, but the cherry on the ignorance-
in actuality, these are cop-out answers
flavored cake is when people claim that
used to refrain from sounding racist. Race
they “don’t see color.” Color-blindness is a
isn’t something invisible. It’s a beautiful
dangerous result of growing up in an era
spectrum that we use to identify ourselves
that supposedly has resolved racism. If we
and each other. Such removal of race from
remove this blinder, perhaps we can make
anyone’s identity is racist. It’s a refusal to
post-racial society a reality.
see someone as they actually are by denying