Raceless, Colorless…Invisible
As Americans slowly moves towards becoming a completely blended society, one day we will not be defined by a single race or a single color. Sure, genetics will probably still allow for a spectrum of skin tones, but with interracial marriages and breeding and a mixing of cultures, America will reflect a true melting pot.
Today, Americans may strive to judge beyond race and color, but the truth is we don’t and we can’t. Not just yet. When even the U.S. Census Bureau asks citizens to categorize themselves within one race, we have to wonder, as a people, how we will ever advance ourselves and our culture to be blind to race and color.
I am American, Indian, brown, Woman, Bostonian and New Yorker. These are words that are tattooed to my existence and because of them I don’t nicely fit into any category. I’m American, but I take pride in my Indian ethnicity. Indians born-and-raised in America and in India don’t think I’m Indian enough. I’m brown and I relate more to blacks, yet a majority of my friends are white. I’m a woman, but I love playing with the men. With me you’ll never get what you expect. I am colorless. I am raceless. I am what America will be.
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The only problem being ahead of the game is that no one ever notices. Because I don’t fit into America’s social constructs, I’m pretty much invisible to all those around me. To lose your defining characteristics may be social advancement but the road ahead of us is sparsely populated.
I live in a world where I have to consider and weigh my options about everything from what restaurant to eat at, to what clubs to party at, to whom to invite as my plus one to industry events. My white friends get easily bored and outnumbered at “black” events so I rarely invite them along. On one hand, I’ll eat anywhere, dance anywhere and socialize anywhere because the perks of being colorless and raceless is that I can find comfort everywhere like a chameleon. On there other hand, the silent elephant in the room is that the color of an event and the racial breakdown of those attending is a deciding factor for some.
There aren’t many of us who are blind to these factors and make the best of any situation simply to enjoy people beyond their race and color. Sitting out on that outer edge of reality gets really old when people around you are constantly dragging you back and holding too high of a value on race and color. To this day, I still hold on tight to being brown in order to give myself some sort of definition. Yet I daydream about the day when my racial background doesn’t matter, but I hope that day doesn’t make us all invisible.
