Race Conversations

I've been fortunate enough to be privy to a lot of race conversations over the past few years, which have challenged me to be more critical and understanding of the world around me. I've taken in a lot, with a lot left to learn.

One thing that continues to bother me is how you can always count on people who are having conversations about race to say some variation of the following:
"Well, I don't care if they're black, white, green, blue, or yellow..." Why the "green, blue, or yellow" part? I haven't seen anyone resembling those colors outside of Cartoon Network. So why do people inevitably tag this on to the end of their race statements?

I have a theory.

I think people like to avoid the real issue of racial tensions between blacks and whites in this country. There's a multitude of research that clearly shows that people don't like to face tough issues about race, and when they are forced, they sometimes do so in superficial and inauthentic ways. I've watched the trend of adding other colors to people for a long while, but I've never put a whole lot of thought into it. Using this technique, people are able to put forth a persona that they are indeed deeply engaging in matters of race, without really talking about anything. Take for instance, major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling's recent comment on Barry Bonds chase toward the all-time home run record, the most hallowed record in all of sports:

"And I don't care that he's black, or green, or purple, or yellow, or whatever. It's unfortunate... there's good people and bad people. It's unfortunate that it's happening the way it's happening."


The fact of the matter is Barry isn't green (except in this doctored photo), purple, or any other shade of the rainbow (remember ROY G. BIV, kids), he's black. And the all-time home run record chase is deeply entrenched with race issues, specifically around African-Americans.

I challenge you to watch for this trend in conversations about race. And, if you really feel ballsy, ask the person what they mean by "blue, green, yellow." I suspect his/her answer will be surprising.