What You Are Actually Saying When You Say You Don’t See Color [Opinion]

George Zimmerman, a man who garnered something approaching fame after shooting an unarmed teenaged boy named Trayvon Martin and who then parlayed that notoriety into other acts of alleged violence and works of passive-aggressive kitsch, sat down for an interview with Fusion correspondent Derrick Ashong. Zimmerman placed many words one after the other in combinations of approximate meaning, one of which was the claim that he does not “see color.”

That particular combination of words is often used in discussions about race and racism, and it doesn’t, on its surface, mean anything. “I don’t see color” is the Forever 21 clearance bin costume jewelry of cliched statements about race. It might seem nice, but it crumbles and unfastens and falls apart pretty easily once you try to use it for anything.

So here are some things you are actually saying when you default to that grouping of words:

You are a silly person.

Color exists. As in both, like, actual melanin in skin and the constructs and history that surround having or not having varying degrees of it. Race exists, whether you think of it as a construct people created over time or as a Legit Really Real Thing, as do hatred and prejudice and well-meaning-but-ultimately-clueless interactions based on ideas we have about how people of different races act or should be treated. To say that you don’t see color is silly, because it exists. You are literally seeing it — and how people talk about it — every day.

You are ok with ignoring other people.

Because color and race are things that surely exist in this world we live and participate in, some people are treated differently — and sometimes badly or unfairly — based on ideas other people have about color and race. A lot of people have talked about it, sharing what they’ve gone through and teaching people how they can treat other, differently-colored people in ways that maybe aren’t so bad or unfair. By claiming to not see color you are, by extension, declaring an ignorance of either the reality that this bad or unfair treatment exists, despite people who have experienced it telling you that it does, or you are saying that you do not and have never taken part in it, even in a subtle or innocuous or casual manner. And I do not believe you when you say that.

You are comfortable.

You do not have to see color because you are not treated badly or unfairly because of yours. You have not, say, been followed very closely by salespeople with tense smiles while browsing in a store. You have not watched a tiny parade of different thoughts and emotions cross strangers’ faces as they silently debate whether or not to sit beside you on a bus. You have not overheard a joke comparing people who are like you to an animal. You have not had your emotional state discredited because of assumptions about your “anger” or your “passion.” You are very comfortable, and that must be really nice.