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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]   All -- 
         Seeking a color blind society never meant denying people have different types of pigment in their skin, it meant reaching a point where people would not treat one another differently because of the color of their skin.

It never meant denying that people of different hues had different backgrounds and cultures, but it meant we should strive for a point where those differences were not the dominant way people -- whatever their skin tone -- are  identified by others (or by themselves) in their public participation in society.  Our history obviously made this a steeper climb with African Americans as did the fact if you are black in a room of white people that is noticed, but the notion of a color blind society is to make their contemporary experience similar to that of voluntary immigrants who arrived as outsiders, faced discrimination but ultimately were able to largely assimilate into public life, while maintaining their different traditions and cultures at home.

I read the link someone posted on why you should not talk about a color blind society.  Nothing in that short article even addressed the issues discussed above.

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I think the main problem with colorblindness is not the above- which I think would be ideal. It is that most people who claim to be colorblind are not actually colorblind in practice, so it is harmful for children of color, especially black children, to be told to believe that the world is colorblind, only to grow up to see that most people consciously or subconsciously judge you in part or whole based on your race.    Real colorblindness takes a lot of work, more than just a declaration.[/quote]

Thank you for your thoughtful comment, and permit me to reply with a different take.  I think the main problem with the modern notion of colorblindness you are critiquing is that there are probably relatively few people who make that assertion in the first place, but many people (yes, particularly progressives but not exclusively) who evidently believe otherwise.  Hence, there is a larger attack on the honest goals that many people hold of sincerely wishing to reach a color blind society as described in my earlier post because of some belief  -- with I'm willing to bet is not supported by good survey evidence -- that there are many millions of people asserting they are personally "colorblind" when it comes to race.   My sense is that when most people use that term (admittedly speculation, as I have no survey evidence on it but grew up in times where that or similar terms were used years ago) only mean that they do not believe they discriminate against people based on race - nothing more.  And yes, you can start a conversation now about unconscious bias that's really a debate about what types of bias /prejudice exist in society, but that really isn't directed to what you suggested is the "main problem with colorblindness.

And I would go further and take issue with your conclusion that it is necessarily harmful to black, brown, Asian and other children to tell them the world is colorblind for two reasons.  First, I doubt this is a real thing --plenty of Republicans and I think even Fox news commentators have acknowledged there is plenty of real racism in the country.  So I'm not sure exactly what is the source or the magnitude of this danger of announcing we live in a colorblind society .  But second -- more importantly -- what is the risk of an error.  Implicit in your statement is that telling children we live in a colorblind society (if anyone really does that) harms them because they will come up against racism and what -- suddenly crumble at the shock and need therapy for 20 years?  I don't believe that is a real risk.  Unless kids are raised in a cocoon, they will know racism still exists from a young age.  I would offer another possibility.  If some kids, somewhere got this colorblind message and then come up against being judged based on their race,  they will feel empowered to push back knowing it is not acceptable in a society that declares itself to seek to be a colorblind society; they are empowered to call out real racism directly to the racists believing that is the consensus point of view of America even thought not everyone has gotten there yet. . 
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