Guest column by Jack Jajewski, junior IES major.

Nobody’s colorblind.

We all see races. Even though race is socially constructed, we can’t avoid seeing it. Race is designed to push us into demographics that enable both dominance and oppression, and race is everywhere.

When talking about social justice, the big topic is always race. Racism is one of the most common forms of oppression, but the one most people think we’ve moved past it. If social justice topics were a family, race would be the scary grandpa that nobody would talk to for fear of getting their knuckles hit by his cane. Yet just as grandpa is never going to stop until someone stands up to him, racism will persist until we start talking about it.

We worry about the terms and words we use and the way we phrase things because we fear offending someone. Above all else, we do our best to ignore it all together.

Don’t see color. This was the mantra repeated to me over and over growing up, preached blatantly and encouraged subtly. As a young white man in an upper-middle class family, I was under the impression that I could avoid racism simply by ignoring skin color and having friends of all races and backgrounds.

“I’m not racist, I have a black friend,” or, “my girlfriend is Mexican, I’m fine with other races.” Having friends in subordinated groups doesn’t automatically make you an ally.

By telling me to ignore color, my mother wasn’t intentionally promoting racism. But then, is anyone? It’s rare to hear racial slurs in conversation, at least in the communities I’ve been a part of. Jokes come up occasionally, but there aren’t usually comments spurred by hatred. It’s a terrible thing in our society to be called a racist. Yet our intention to be “colorblind” and treat everyone equally isn’t doing anyone any good.

Racial divides exist. Racism is real, happening, and all around us. By ignoring color and acting like we as a society have moved past racism, we are all being bystanders. To not see color is to not see the child being bullied. The problem needs to be addressed and worked on, not solved by pretending it doesn’t exist.

Accept that racism is a problem, and you have already gone a step past most people’s comfort level. Start discussing it, and you will probably lose all your friends. That’s the culture that we have in our current state, and one that must be changed.

Color is here and always will be. It’s not a melting pot of people; it’s a salad bowl. We need to respect the differences and how they complement each other, not try to melt them down and normalize them into the same thing.

My mother wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. Neither is anyone else who encourages his or her children not to see color. However, we will be treading water in the fight to end racism until there is a widespread understanding that being blind to color is being blind to oppression.