Director of the Hollywood hit centered on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s role in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in the summer of 1965, ?Selma,? Ava DuVernay has a message for you in lieu of MLK Day ? stop being ?colorblind.?
DuVernay states in a segment for MTV’s special, #thetalk:
“We need to expand our minds to appreciate our differences. To be color-blind, is not a thing — I don’t think that one should boast about. See color and celebrate it. See our differences and celebrate it. When somebody says to me, ‘I’m color-blind. I don’t see color,’ I’m thinking ‘You’re missing out on a lot of beautiful colors.'”
You see, colorblindness is not the positive, endearing perspective it may seem to be. Rather than acknowledging and embracing the obvious differences between ourselves, such as skin color, colorblindness attempts to deny them. It attempts to say all people are the same, and when that sentiment comes from the white, dominant society, it suggests that rather than seeing and acknowledging blackness, for example ? accepting it in all its beauty, depth, and complications ? one instead chooses to overlook it as if it is not there, as if to suggest all are white, just like the dominant society. In that way, acceptance through colorblindness is still a rejection of blackness.
To put colorblindness into perspective, imagine applying the same line of thinking to gender issues. Can you imagine gender-blindness? Can you imagine people telling you, rather than accepting women for who and what they are, that they don’t see gender, that all women are just like men? Do you really think people are willing and ready to ignore gender in this homophobic, Christian-dominated country?
Why not push it even further, eh? Just view the entire world as the mirror image of yourself and there won’t be any problems, right?
Sound absurd? That’s because it is.
MTV’s #thetalk will showcase many influential people of note sharing stories, thoughts and observations regarding race in the U.S. The special aims to launch dialogue among the network’s viewers around the subject as a stepping stone to education, awareness, and hopefully progress in some slow form.
In conjunction with the special, MTV is planning to broadcast for 12 hours in black and white, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., echoing so many images from the Civil Rights Movement.
H/T: hollywoodreporter.com | Featured image: hollywoodreporter.com
