I’m a woman of color. The color of my skin is laced with a rich, intricate history that tells the story of my people. The pigment reveals centuries of the beautiful and not-so-beautiful parts of history. It tells the story of how my parents have struggled day and night. How they worked twice as hard to prove themselves and provide for their kids. My pigment tells the story of how my ancestors were conditioned to think that their rich, vibrant skin was a negative. It tells the story of how my community praises eurocentric ideals of beauty and is taught to hate its own beauty. It tells the narrative of how darker people must always suffer more. Though I was raised in America, the thousands of novels that can be written of the history entrenched within the mere melanin in my skin follow me everywhere. My skin is my identity. It is who I am entirely. It is why my experiences in life thus far have been what they have.

Many people try to solve racism with the ideology of “color-blindness.” People have often told me that they forget I’m black or that they don’t see my color when they talk to me. While this may seem a utopian vision of how the world should be, this isn’t the reality, and we should accept the fact that color plays an integral part in how society works. I think of color-blindness as a counterproductive way to combat racism because it refuses to acknowledge the real ways in which race exists and continues to shape people’s experiences and lives. When someone says that they don’t see my color, they are erasing my identity, my central being, and diluting me to a name without history or heritage. My color is the reason why my life took the course it has and why dehumanizing events happen to me and those I love. All of my actions, thoughts, and rhetoric are rooted in the pigmentation of my skin. My color is an extension of my being.

So as a word of advice to everyone who thinks color-blindness is an effective way to “end” racism, it is not. You might believe this from the kindness of your heart, and I appreciate that, but I want you to acknowledge color, see color, and love color. Ask people how their color has impacted the way they see the world and acknowledge that. At the end of the day, we are all people but our experiences differ greatly.