Born Blind?

"We are born color-blind." 

It's a recurring theme among people of good will in the wake of yet another horrifying and tragic act of terrorism against innocent people who have had to bear the terrifying burden of racism.  As we struggle to understand, as we are stunned and saddened by our own complicity, and as we search for a way forward many want to remind us that hatred and violence are taught and learned. 

"No one is born a racist," they say.

The science is more complicated and challenging.  The reality is, human beings have evolved with an uncanny ability to instantly recognize difference.  Before our conscious brains are even aware of it, we have made note of our differences and marked our territory.  It's a trait that evolved for our survival in a world in which there was little interaction between villages and cultures at a time when the ability to instantly recognize differences would mean the difference between life and death: survival. 

We are not born color-blind.  That's the problem.  We are born with a keen awareness of our differences.  The challenge is really what we do with that.  If we spend our time denying it, we'll be fooling ourselves and we'll get nowhere.  If we go on thinking it's OK to remain separate because of our differences, we'll all die a long and painful death.  But if we see our differences and celebrate them, work to understand one-another and join together as a single humanity to make this world better for all people, well, then, we might just find that way forward so many of us long for.

"Love your neighbor as yourself."