The article consists of a lost of fifty different examples of this phenomenon, some of which I agree with and some of which I do not. That aside, number 46, which I do agree with really caught my attention: "46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin."
I think that the reason why this particular example stuck out to me is because it is something that I take for granted. Of course a flesh-colored band-aid would match my skin color. I also have never really considered the matching a bit deal. Sometimes I even wear blue band-aids with little glow-in-the-dark Spongebobs on them. But the practical applications of a band-aid's color are not really in question here.
The real issue is in the assumptions that our society makes based on race and color of skin. We like to call ourselves a "post-racial-America", but even if direct hate crimes and racial profiling have come to an end, all of these little things, like white band-aids add up to a very uneven society. I think that these small, seemingly unintentional and harmless discrepancies are often more damaging to race relations than the larger, deliberate examples of racism.
My reasoning is twofold. First of all, I explore the phenomenon of right-handed scissors. Obviously, no one hates left-handed people for being left-handed, yet the average lifespan is shorter for these few. Why? Many things, like scissors, are built for people who are righties. This can make life more dangerous for the minority of people who are not. This is similar to the band-aid story. Small things can add up very quickly.
The second argument is that when racism takes such a subtle form, it becomes ingrained in society without people noticing it. If we accept these things as normal, we are accepting that one group of people should live with more privilege than another group. Things are overlooked that should not be.
After reading this article, I think that I have already become more aware of this sort of racial bias in my personal experience.
funny "flesh-colored" band-aid video
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzKtt3cxLpY
Good GOD you people are braindead.
ReplyDeleteMcIntosh wrote that juvenile screed in the late 1980s - exactly when stores DID carry a variety of skin-toned bandages. I was in my late teens then and remember it well. The problem is the bandaids stopped being sold after a few years because there was too little demand for them.
So was McIntosh living in a fish bowl this time period and never notice or is she simply lying? Further, why assume something that is an obvious business decision spring from some racial privilege conspiracy theory?
One answer: HOSTILE ATTRIBUTIONAL BIAS TOWARD WHITE PEOPLE.
Now they sell a generic tone of bandaid which actually TOO DARK FOR MOST WHITE PEOPLE, but let's not let such inconvenient facts get in the way of an ideological brainwashing of impressionable children, shall we?