• Ø implies everything
    252
    I agree. Get to know the person by minimizing biases as much as possible. But then, how can one combine this with one's knowledge of the statistics regarding the different races?

    Here's what I mean: if I met a black person, I would try to get to know them without any assumptions about them. I would succeed quite well in that, as I am not very assumptive. However, it still a fact that there is more crime (per capita) among the black population than the white population. By ignoring this fact, how would one be able to enact accurate social change? One couldn't, and thus one would be worse off in de-actualizing this racially correlated trait.

    It is possible to acknowledge statistics without assuming they apply to a single person of the population to which the statistics apply. Complete color blindness would include a complete blindness to the racial statistics, no? How then could one make a good piece of educational entertainment aimed at the black youth, for example, if one is blind to the statistics regarding that audience?

    When dealing with the few, statistics are more of an obstruction than a help. When dealing with the many, statistics are helpful. This is getting at the middle way between racial realism and color blindness that I am talking about.
  • LuckyR
    378


    The problem with statistics, especially about "race" is that folks tend to accept and repeat stats that support their worldview and downplay or ignore those that challenge their worldview. Thus it is not only possible, but rather it is routine to be able to promote bias through using (cherry-picked) statistics. Or to put it another way, folks come up with subjective conclusions "supported" by objective data.
  • NOS4A2
    8.3k


    There would be a blindness to the statistics. Rightfully so, in my opinion. Race statistics are fruitless because the distinctions are arbitrary. It’s like talking about crime statistics regarding tall or short people, or the crime rates of blonde and redheads, phenotypes which have nothing to do with proclivities toward crime. There is no need for a middle way because with abandoning race you abandon the arbitrary distinctions. So one will just have to seek out new statistics.
  • Merkwurdichliebe
    2.6k
    it's genius. Eliminate racism by discriminating on the basis of race. And if you don't participate in racial discrimination in order to end racism, you are the racist.
  • wonderer1
    1.6k
    Race statistics are fruitless because the distinctions are arbitrary.NOS4A2

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_health

    Race and health refers to how being identified with a specific race influences health. Race is a complex concept that has changed across chronological eras and depends on both self-identification and social recognition.[1] In the study of race and health, scientists organize people in racial categories depending on different factors such as: phenotype, ancestry, social identity, genetic makeup and lived experience. "Race" and ethnicity often remain undifferentiated in health research.[2][3]

    Differences in health status, health outcomes, life expectancy, and many other indicators of health in different racial and ethnic groups are well documented.[4] Epidemiological data indicate that racial groups are unequally affected by diseases, in terms or morbidity and mortality.[5] Some individuals in certain racial groups receive less care, have less access to resources, and live shorter lives in general.[6] Overall, racial health disparities appear to be rooted in social disadvantages associated with race such as implicit stereotyping and average differences in socioeconomic status.[7][8][9]

    Health disparities are defined as "preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations".[10] According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are intrinsically related to the "historical and current unequal distribution of social, political, economic and environmental resources".[10][11]

    The relationship between race and health has been studied from multidisciplinary perspectives, with increasing focus on how racism influences health disparities, and how environmental and physiological factors respond to one another and to genetics.[7][8]

    How is what you refer to as "Color-blindness" different from ignorance?
  • NOS4A2
    8.3k


    [How is what you refer to as "Color-blindness" different from ignorance?

    It demands more effort and knowledge in regards to learning about and understanding the world. One cannot understand anything about a person by referring to his phenotypes, and so one cannot be just or moral or right by continually basing his judgements upon it.

    How is racism and race consciousness different from ignorance?
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