This is so gorgeous, aching, heart breaking. All of it, but I was especially taken by this quote. Thank you, Marcie.
“For many White Americans this is the conundrum. Black is undeniably beautiful. Yet no matter what, they can never own what makes Blackness so intrinsically beautiful. Even when they enslaved Black bodies, it couldn’t extract our beauty. They couldn’t tap it like a maple tree and bottle it like syrup.
My mother didn’t want me to settle for being consumed. She wanted me to want to be seen without offering up my worth on the auction block.”
Recently, again, a white person said to me, a white person, "I don't see color. I treat everyone the same." I told her that colorblindness is a disability. (Interestingly - or not- my youngest son just lost a job for being colorblind.)
Frustrated I decided to paint it out. I am an artist. I first thought the title would be "I Don't See Color" but that was not what I wanted to really say. The title is "I SEE Color." It is a bright and cheery abstract that if you squint your eyes, which kinda removes the color, you can't see the painting. You can only see the overlapping shapes and interactions of the shapes IF you CAN SEE color. I hope that as we enter a new season we can all be seen. Maybe that is how I will handle the remainder of Lent and the new season of Spring. Rather than giving up chocolate or social media or some such nonsense, I will endeavor to DO something. I will endeavor to SEE another each time I go out. I've made friends this way. I am looking forward to seeing on a deeper level. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Wow. Thank you for this, Marcie. I’ve never seen the Bachelor and generally feel like reality TV in general doesn’t have much value, but this analysis HAS SO MUCH VALUE. Thank you for unpacking all of this for us. Your words are, like always, so beautiful and true and gut-wrenching and wise and magical. ❤️
“Kind and gentle color blindness can’t decipher any racist behavior that is systemic or subtle.” How perfectly captured. How insidiously true. 💔
Wow. So good. Thank you. ❤️
Mmm mmm mmm, you did it, you said it, you opened our eyes, as per the usual. Thank you, Marcie.
This is so gorgeous, aching, heart breaking. All of it, but I was especially taken by this quote. Thank you, Marcie.
“For many White Americans this is the conundrum. Black is undeniably beautiful. Yet no matter what, they can never own what makes Blackness so intrinsically beautiful. Even when they enslaved Black bodies, it couldn’t extract our beauty. They couldn’t tap it like a maple tree and bottle it like syrup.
My mother didn’t want me to settle for being consumed. She wanted me to want to be seen without offering up my worth on the auction block.”
Gorgeous and gutting and wise, as always. Thank you, Marcie.
Recently, again, a white person said to me, a white person, "I don't see color. I treat everyone the same." I told her that colorblindness is a disability. (Interestingly - or not- my youngest son just lost a job for being colorblind.)
Frustrated I decided to paint it out. I am an artist. I first thought the title would be "I Don't See Color" but that was not what I wanted to really say. The title is "I SEE Color." It is a bright and cheery abstract that if you squint your eyes, which kinda removes the color, you can't see the painting. You can only see the overlapping shapes and interactions of the shapes IF you CAN SEE color. I hope that as we enter a new season we can all be seen. Maybe that is how I will handle the remainder of Lent and the new season of Spring. Rather than giving up chocolate or social media or some such nonsense, I will endeavor to DO something. I will endeavor to SEE another each time I go out. I've made friends this way. I am looking forward to seeing on a deeper level. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Yassss I love “I SEE color” as a mantra!
(I’m so sorry your son lost lost his job… that sucks.)
Wow. Thank you for this, Marcie. I’ve never seen the Bachelor and generally feel like reality TV in general doesn’t have much value, but this analysis HAS SO MUCH VALUE. Thank you for unpacking all of this for us. Your words are, like always, so beautiful and true and gut-wrenching and wise and magical. ❤️
🖤
I lost track of the number of times I got chills reading this. Powerfully and beautifully said.
Thank you so very much for this sweet encouragement 🙏🏾