People love to proudly announce they are not racist, and in their heads, they are in no way racist, yet those same people will tell you a story about an incident they had with a person and if they are not the same race as themselves, they will more than likely mention the other person’s race.
I read a blog post recently where a woman was describing an incident where she was alone on a train platform and two “latino” rail workers appeared out of no where and where standing a little way from her. She later realized that they were guarding her until the train pulled in and not a danger.
I wondered what was the relevance of the racial reference. Was it necessary to her story? Was it a subconscious indication that at first she felt threatened because they were hispanic? Would she have mentioned their race had they been two tall blond blue eyed Swedes, other than possibly to say how gorgeous they were and because they were white, subconsciously they were not a threat?
The fact of mentioning race to describe someone means that you are still seeing through race colored glasses. Why do you need to describe a person by their skin color? A person’s race has no relevance on their behavior.
Life As An Anomaly 
So true! And how often I have heard people “brag” about how they have a “black” friend or a “Latino” friend as if somehow they makes them not a racist. But the very fact that they qualify that friend by color they have made race an issue.
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Exactly. I think people only think of racism as disparaging comments not realizing that categorizing by color is also racist
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So true! I cringe when people say “a black guy” did such and such.
Hey, “a blue-eyed guy” did such and such!
What really got me was how many of my friends disliked Obama because of his skin color. They are not my friends any longer.
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I hear you.
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Is that job application that asks about your race and national origin racist? Is it sexist too? Are the police racist when they ask you to describe the victim of a crime or a missing person?
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Job application? Yes. What does the color of someone’s skin matter towards their job? You are hiring a person or a race?. As for police asking a race that obviously is a different matter. You need to know the color of skin for description of a criminal. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.
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Oh my word. This comment could only come from a racist! The author clearly is stating about it being mentioned when it does not need to be. Obviously you would describes a person’s skin and hair color when it is relevant. Otherwise it is not. This was such a troll comment.
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We as Americans are consumed by race because it has been used to oppress, discriminate, segregate and substantiate prejudicial behavior. I would rather a person see my race and see my humanity than to pretend to be color-blind and stand by silent whilst supporting supremacy and the status quo. It’s a double edge sword.
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Yes but Hispanics do this as well. We say, dos “gavachos” or two white guys. It is a standard way to describe what the person looked like. I don’t see a problem.
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It all depends on the relevance of the conversation. If you are just saying “two white guys” because you saw two guys having a beer, their race really does not have any relevance to the topic, does it? If you say two white guys robbed the bar, then that is relevant. Racism is not only a white person thing. It goes both ways.
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The problem is we don’t have a conversation without mentioning their races. Enter into any conversation with any Mexican about any topic where they are describing a person whether it was because they shoot up a school or beat up on a black person and “gabacho”, or “guero” will undoubtedly come up. I tell you this because I hear these conversations now and I’ve heard them my entire Spanish speaking life. I have no reason to make it up. We too bring up race. It just seem that white people can’t even think about race while the rest of us get a free pass.
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I am in total agreement with you Basil. Too many people put emphasis on skin color when it is absolutely unnecessary. To say that because you are hispanic having names for people that are white is not racists as one commentator said is ludicrousness. Any reference to any race other than yours as an irrelevant description is racist. It means that you have already set up prejudices concerning that particular race which you expect or hope the person you are speaking with shares with you and that they will understand how you feel in the situation you are describing. And of course you will need to describe a person’s skin color when describing a suspect to the police. That is a different situation all together. Thank you for allowing comments also. So many bloggers do not allow them now.
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Thanks Arthur. I always find that usually racist don’t think they are racist. The whole goldfish analogy. Thanks for stopping by and yes I noticed that bloggers are not allowing comments. I wrote a post about that recently. Check it out here: https://lifeasananomaly.com/2019/07/15/encountering-the-snowflake-blogger/
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