History doesn’t lie and denial doesn’t make manufactured truths real. But – history does prophesy. Colorblindness and the toxic positivity it nurtures is a deceptive and pathological theory that aids and abets accountability avoidance for wrongs that laid the quicksand of disenfranchisement for centuries. Color was the basis of the Dred Scott Decision of 1846 and Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. Color prejudice is and has always been the indoctrination that has never been broken in the United States of America. Colorblindness is the lie of racial superiority, unspoken but adhered to in silence, and the defense of those who don’t really want you there in the first place, and a scapegoat of deflection from seeing all the sons and daughters of this country as equal. Colorblindness convinces cowards and complicit good citizens that merit has always been a fair test, that patriotism is defined by a flawed definition of liberty, and that integrity does not matter for everyone. Colorblindness is a security blanket for those who brainwash themselves into thinking that they are not prejudiced, the silent denial of those who consider themselves the biological children of America.
Colorblindness is the lie that the game was never fixed, that the double standards don’t really exist, and that corruption is okay if it serves the interest of those of the same ilk. We are witnessing American Reconstruction 2025, a setback that threatens hard fought battles for America’s underdogs, the fight not to be seen as invisible. We are watching the ascent of hypocrisy and corruption, the exploitation and manipulation of equality that thrives in wealthy whiteness. “DEI” has become the new attack word, hurled by complicit history deniers that will make moral concessions on one hand, while upholding morality on the other. What happens to the least of us is only a template for what can happen to all of us.
As indoctrination has convinced many that America’s transgressions are not real, the question of bravery hangs over us. This era of politics will determine, with certainty, the trajectory of this nation. The delusion of “e pluribus unum” has come undone, there are no more dog whistles being blown. DEI is now a battle cry for those who they want to erase. It is the battle cry for the Tuskegee Airmen whose merit led them to fly planes in the Second World War as their color locked the door of opportunity. DEI is the mechanism of accountability for the Declaration of Independence to ensure that people in positions of power with biases won’t block access, so that the merit they require can be acquired. DEI is the insistence that we will not be counted out when the forces of politics have aimed to limit our progress. Bravery is now. Resistance to corruption will tell us who our neighbors are. Our ability to see the conflation of real issues with gross abuses of power is the alarm that we cannot turn off. Rome is falling. Will we watch?