Seeing a Color-Blind Future by Patricia J. Williams.
Chapter 1: The Emperor 's New Clothes
In this chapter, Mrs. Williams explores society 's failure to deal straightforwardly with the practice of exclusion. This is something that infects everyone, from the very old to the very young, and Mrs. Williams does a great job of pointing these things out. As I proceeded to read this piece, I found myself being able to relate and agree with a lot of the things Mrs. Williams spoke on. The truth of the matter is the fact that society puts emphasis on things that do not really matter and not enough emphasis on things that really matter is a big problem in today 's world. We are currently living in a society that attempts to hide things from our youth as if this is benefiting them. "Protecting our youth 's innocence" is good, but as Mrs. Williams pointed out the idea of "not thinking about it so therefore it doesn 't exist" (pg. 4) is not a good method of dealing with problems that may arise in life. This is a very important point that is made. The practice of imagining situations away just so they do not get dealt with head on leads to ignorance. There is a big difference between "being color-blind and just being blind" (pg. 6). The fact that whites do not view themselves in term of race and feel that race is something that blacks solely have to deal with is a division of black and white in itself. When I was a young boy I was constantly reminded of my "blackness", I have to make it and work as hard as everyone else does because I am black. I was not only reminded of this by other blacks, but by whites as well. In this chapter the issue of the restraint placed on our youth 's inquisitive nature is something else that I appreciate Mrs. Williams bringing to the forefront. There is a point in all children life when they go through an inquisitive stage; this is an essential part of a child 's development. It has to be expected that questions are going to get asked, at times the questions may be embarrassing or in some cases
In this chapter, Mrs. Williams explores society 's failure to deal straightforwardly with the practice of exclusion. This is something that infects everyone, from the very old to the very young, and Mrs. Williams does a great job of pointing these things out. As I proceeded to read this piece, I found myself being able to relate and agree with a lot of the things Mrs. Williams spoke on. The truth of the matter is the fact that society puts emphasis on things that do not really matter and not enough emphasis on things that really matter is a big problem in today 's world. We are currently living in a society that attempts to hide things from our youth as if this is benefiting them. "Protecting our youth 's innocence" is good, but as Mrs. Williams pointed out the idea of "not thinking about it so therefore it doesn 't exist" (pg. 4) is not a good method of dealing with problems that may arise in life. This is a very important point that is made. The practice of imagining situations away just so they do not get dealt with head on leads to ignorance. There is a big difference between "being color-blind and just being blind" (pg. 6). The fact that whites do not view themselves in term of race and feel that race is something that blacks solely have to deal with is a division of black and white in itself. When I was a young boy I was constantly reminded of my "blackness", I have to make it and work as hard as everyone else does because I am black. I was not only reminded of this by other blacks, but by whites as well. In this chapter the issue of the restraint placed on our youth 's inquisitive nature is something else that I appreciate Mrs. Williams bringing to the forefront. There is a point in all children life when they go through an inquisitive stage; this is an essential part of a child 's development. It has to be expected that questions are going to get asked, at times the questions may be embarrassing or in some cases