Transcending Race

I keep forgetting to talk about this, so now it’s like a nagging email that I keep forgetting to respond to. Since I’m trying to clear my inbox/mental space, I’m doing it now. A few posts ago…ok, a lot of posts ago…I mentioned that one of my friends told me that she had “stopped seeing color” and had “gotten over it.”

I don’t know what to say to that, except for “good for you…I guess.” I can understand one transcending, or rising above, their own negative, stress-inducing response to racial inequality. I can understand not limiting one’s friends based on some perceived notion of racial solidarity. I can even intellectually understand the “it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t really physically exist” theory (aka: the “there are more differences between two people of the same race than there are between two people of different races” theory). And if that were all she was talking about, this post would not exist. But her comment was in response to my excitement about the presence of minorities in my class, and my even greater excitement that we actually speak to each other.

I haven’t gotten over race, and I don’t know that I want to. Does getting over it mean that I no longer have to pay attention to it? Does it mean that, because my socioeconomic status will probably approach the upper-middle class mark, I no longer have to worry about or think about what it is like for poor people? Yep, I know that poor people ≠ black people, but we cannot separate race and class in this country, so just follow me. If I’ve transcended race, does that mean that I am no longer impacted by the reality and gravity of the issue for everyone else? In all fairness to her, I’m sure she’d say “No, of course not. It just means that you don’t spend every waking moment of your life thinking about it anymore.” I can dig that. I mean, really, when I wake up I’m usually thinking “for real?” anyway. But, what I cannot imagine is not evaluating my life, thinking critically about the state of this country, or trying to explain to my family what college is like for me, without the lens of race. So many of my everyday experiences are influenced by race. Maybe people will ask, “Why is that the case for you, but not your friend (or anyone else for that matter)?” I don’t know exactly. Maybe she evaluates her life through the lens of “woman” and while she has somehow transcended race, she still wonders if she would make more if she were a man, or if she would have been invited to speak at that conference or have a better chance at being dean of the professional school. Maybe she has so many other “desirable” characteristics (long straight hair, thinness, light skin) that she hasn’t felt the full effect of what it is to be defined by her blackness. Or, maybe she has, and just doesn’t give a damn.

But here’s one thing that does matter:

There is a grave inequality in level of, expectation for, and success in EDUCATION. This inequality leads to a disproportionately high number of poor minorities in this country. (duh) But it also negatively impacts my experiences (and non minority students) while earning my education.

What she actually said was “You’ll learn to get over it.” I hope not. And if I do, may it only be because racial diversity in programs like mine has increased so much that we are no longer surprised to see one another.