A Case for Color Blindness | Coleman Hughes | TED

Translator: Anne Svenstrup Grant

I want to do a quick exercise.

Jeg vil gerne lave en hurtig øvelse.

Close your eyes.

Luk øjnene.

I want you to picture your best friend.

Forestil dig din bedste ven.

Think about what specifically you love about them.

Tænk på, hvad du elsker ved vedkommende.

What trait makes them them?

Hvilke træk gør personen til den, han eller hun er?

Now open your eyes.

Åbn øjnene igen.

I don't know what each of you came up with,

Jeg ved ikke, hvad I hver især tænkte på,

but I'm pretty sure I know what you didn't come up with.

men jeg er ret sikker på, hvad I ikke tænkte på.

I’m pretty sure none of you thought,

Jeg er ret sikker på, at ingen tænkte:

"What makes Jim Jim is the fact that he's six-foot-two and a redhead."

“Det, der gør Jim til den, han er, er at han er 1,80 meter høj og rødhåret.”

I'm guessing you chose their inner qualities,

Jeg gætter på, at I tænkte på indre kvaliteter,

their sense of humor,

personens sans for humor,

their generosity, their intelligence,

generøsitet, intelligens,

qualities they would have no matter what they looked like.

kvaliteter, de ville have uanset udseende.

There's one more quality I'm pretty sure you didn't choose.

Der er en anden kvalitet, jeg heller ikke tror, I tænkte på.

Their race.

Deres race.

Of all the things you could list about somebody,

Af alle de ting, der kunne beskrive en person,

er race noget nær det mindst interessante,

their race is just about the least interesting you can name,

right down there with height and hair color.

lige som højde og hårfarve.

Race kan selvfølgelig være godt stof til vittighederne på en standup-klub,

Sure, race can be good source material for jokes at a comedy club,

but in the real world,

men i den virkelige verden

a person's race doesn't tell you whether they're kind or selfish,

siger race ikke noget om, hvorvidt personen er rar eller egoistisk,

whether their beliefs are right or wrong,

har gode eller dårlige holdninger

whether they'll become your best friend or your worst enemy.

eller vil blive din bedste ven eller værste fjende.

But over the past ten years,

Men i løbet af de sidste ti år

our societies have become more and more fixated on racial identity.

er vores samfund blevet alt mere fokuseret på raceidentitet.

We've all been invited to reflect on our inner whiteness or inner Blackness,

Vi opfordres til at reflektere over vores indre hvidhed eller sorthed,

as if these racial essences define who we are.

som om disse racekerner definerer, hvem vi er.

Meanwhile, American society has experienced the greatest crisis

I mellemtiden har det amerikanske samfund oplevet den største krise

in race relations in a generation.

i raceforhold i en generation.

Gallup has been asking Americans how they feel about race relations,

Gallup har spurgt amerikanerne, hvordan de har det med raceforhold,

and this chart is the result.

og dette diagram er resultatet.

So as you can see, between 2001 and 2013,

Som I kan se, hvis vi kigger på årene 2001 og 2013,

most Americans felt good about race relations.

havde de fleste amerikanere det godt med raceforhold.

Then both lines take a nosedive.

Herefter tager begge linjer et dyk.

It's no exaggeration to call this one of the greatest crises of our time.

Det er ingen overdrivelse at kalde dette for en af de største kriser i vores tid.

And clearly we need new ways of thinking about race

Vi har tydeligvis brug for nye måder at tænke omkring race,

if we're going to reverse this trend.

hvis vi skal vende denne tendens.

So today I'm going to offer an old idea,

I dag foreslår jeg derfor en gammel idé,

but it's an idea that's been widely misunderstood.

men en idé, der er blevet misforstået i vid udstrækning.

You've probably heard it before, it's called color blindness.

Du har sikkert hørt om den før, den kaldes farveblindhed.

What do I mean by color blindness?

Hvad mener jeg så med farveblindhed?

After all, we all see race.

Når alt kommer til alt, ser vi jo alle racer.

We can't help it.

Vi kan ikke gøre for det.

And what's more, race can influence how we're treated

Hvad mere er, så kan race påvirke, hvordan vi bliver behandlet

and how we treat other people.

og hvordan vi behandler andre.

So in that sense, nobody is truly colorblind.

I den forstand er ingen helt farveblind.

But to interpret the word colorblind so literally

Men at fortolke ordet farveblind så bogstaveligt,

is to misunderstand it.

er at misforstå det.

Colorblind is a word like warmhearted.

Farveblind er et ord lige som varmhjertet.

It uses a physical metaphor to capture an abstract idea.

Det bruger en fysisk metafor til at forklare en abstrakt idé.

To call someone warmhearted isn’t to talk about the temperature of their heart

At kalde nogen varmhjertet handler ikke om hjertets temperatur,

but about the kindness of their soul.

men om venligheden i deres sjæl.

And similarly, to advocate for color blindness

På samme måde er det at gå ind for farveblindhed

is not to pretend you don't notice race.

ikke det samme som at lade som om, at vi ikke bemærker racer.

It's to support a principle

Det er at støtte op om et princip om,

that we should try our best to treat people without regard to race,

at vi bør gøre vores bedste for at behandle folk uden hensyn til race,

both in our personal lives and in our public policy.

både i vores personlige liv og i den offentlige politik.

And you might be thinking, what's so controversial about that?

Måske tænker du: Hvad er så kontroversielt ved det?

Well, the fact is the philosophy of color blindness is under attack.

Faktum er, at filosofien om farveblindhed er under angreb.

Critics say that it's naive

Kritikere siger, at den er naiv,

or that we're not yet ready for it as a society

eller at vi som samfund endnu ikke er klar til den,

or even that it's white supremacy in disguise.

eller endda, at det er hvidt overherredøme i forklædning.

And many people agree with these feelings.

Mange deler disse følelser.

For example, a few years ago,

For et par år siden

a young adult fantasy author came under pressure

blev en ung fantasyforfatter for voksenbøger presset til

to halt the release of her new book.

at stoppe udgivelsen af sin nye bog.

Why?

Hvorfor?

Because the marketing blurb for the book went like this:

Fordi markedsføringen af bogen lød sådan her:

"In a world where the princess is the monster,

“I en verden, hvor prinsessen er monsteret,

oppression is blind to skin color,

undertrykkelse er blind for hudfarve,

and good and evil exist in shades of gray ..."

og godt og ondt eksisterer i gråtoner...”

Now that one sentence clause

Denne ene sætning

about oppression being blind to skin color,

om undertrykkelse, der er blind for hudfarve,

describing a fantasy world, mind you,

og som, vel at mærke, beskriver en fantasiverden,

was enough to provoke an online backlash.

var nok til at fremprovokere et online bagslag.

Now, part of this reaction to color blindness

En del af denne reaktion på farveblindhed

is actually a fault of its advocates.

er faktisk fortalernes skyld.

People will say things like,

Folk siger ting som:

“I don’t see color” as a way of expressing support for color blindness.

“Jeg ser ikke farver” som en måde at udtrykke støtte til farveblindhed.

But this phrase is guaranteed to produce confusion

Denne sætning vil dog garanteret skabe forvirring,

because you do see color, right?

for vi ser jo alle farver, ikke?

I think we should all get rid of this phrase

Jeg synes, vi skal afskaffe dette udtryk

and replace it with what we really mean to say,

og erstatte det med det, vi rent faktisk vil sige,

which is, "I try to treat people without regard to race."

nemlig: “Jeg forsøger at behandle folk uden hensyn til race”.

Now, that said,

Når det er sagt,

most of the pushback to color blindness comes from critics

kommer størstedelen af modstanden til farveblindhed fra kritikere,

who misrepresent it as somehow a conservative idea.

der misrepræsenterer det som en konservativ idé.

Now, this could not be further from the truth.

Det kunne ikke være længere fra sandheden.

The philosophy of color blindness does not come from conservatives.

Filosofien om farveblindhed kommer ikke fra konservative.

It actually comes from the radical wing of the antislavery movement

Den kommer faktisk fra den radikale fløj af antislaveribevægelsen

in the 19th century.

i det 19. århundrede.

The earliest mentions of color blindness come from Wendell Phillips,

Den tidligste omtale af farveblindhed var af Wendell Phillips,

who was the president of the American Anti-Slavery Society

som var præsident for American Anti-Slavery Society,

and a man whose nickname was "abolition's golden trumpet."

og hvis øgenavn var “afskaffelsens gyldne trumpet.”

He believed in immediate full equality for Black Americans.

Han troede på øjeblikkelig fuld lighed for sorte amerikanere.

And in 1865, he called for the creation of a "government colorblind,"

I 1865 opfordrede han til at skabe en “farveblind regering,”

by which he meant the permanent end of all laws that mention race.

hvormed han mente permanent afskaffelse af alle love, der nævner race.

What about the other critiques of color blindness?

Hvad med den øvrige kritik af farveblindhed?

Wouldn’t color blindness render us unable to fight racism?

Ville farveblindhed ikke gøre os ude af stand til at bekæmpe racisme?

Ville det ikke betyde en afskaffelse af politikker som positiv særbehandling,

Wouldn't it mean getting rid of policies like affirmative action

that benefit people of color?

der gavner personer med mørk hudfarve?

I believe that eliminating race-based policies

Jeg tror ikke, at elimineringen af racebaserede politikker

does not equal eliminating policies meant to reduce inequality.

er det samme som at fjerne politikker, der har til formål at reducere ulighed.

It simply means that those policies should be executed

Det betyder blot, at disse politikker bør udføres

on the basis of class instead of race.

på baggrund af klasse i stedet for race.

Why class over race?

Hvorfor klasse frem for race?

I'll give two reasons.

Jeg vil give to grunde.

First because class is almost always a better proxy

For det første, fordi klasse næsten altid er en bedre indikator

for true disadvantage than race.

for at være dårligt stillet end race.

Imagine we picked ten Americans at random.

Forestil jer, at vi tilfældigt udvalgte ti amerikanere.

And our task is to sort them from least privileged on one end

Vores opgave er at rangere dem fra dårligt stillet i den ene ende

to most privileged on the other.

til bedst stillet i den anden.

Now, there's no direct measure of privilege,

Der er ikke nogen målestok for privilegium,

so we have to choose a proxy measure.

så vi er nødt til at vælge en indikator.

My claim here is that lining them up by income or wealth

Min påstånd er, at hvis vi opstiller dem efter indkomst eller formue,

would get us closer to achieving that task

kommer vi tættere på denne opgave

than simply lining people up by race.

end ved blot at opstille folk efter race.

That's what I mean when I say that class is usually a better proxy

Det er det, jeg mener, når jeg siger, at klasse somr regel er en bedre indikator

for disadvantage than race.

for privilegium end race.

And the second reason is that class-based policies tend to be more popular

For det andet er klassebaserede politikker oftest mere populære

and less controversial because they don't penalize anyone

og mindre kontroversielle, fordi de ikke straffer nogen

for immutable biological traits.

for uforanderlige biologiske træk.

Think of policies like need-based financial aid

Tænk på politikker som behovsbaseret økonomisk støtte

or the earned-income tax credit.

eller skattefradrag for arbejdsindkomst.

These are policies that address inequality

Det er politikker, der adresserer ulighed,

without anyone having to feel the sting of racial discrimination.

uden at nogen behøver at føle sig udsat for racediskrimination.

I want to give you an example of a disastrous race-based policy.

Jeg vil gerne give jer et eksempel på en katastrofal racebaseret politik.

It was called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

Den blev kaldt revitaliseringsfonden for restauranter.

Over 70,000 restaurants closed in 2020 due to the pandemic,

Over 70.000 restauranter lukkede i 2020 på grund af pandemien,

and this fund allocated 29 billion dollars to help these restaurants.

og denne fond tildelte 29 mia. dollars til at hjælpe disse restauranter.

But for the first three weeks of the program,

Men i de første tre uger af programmet

only people of color, women and veterans could apply.

var det kun mørkhudede, kvinder og veteraner, der kunne ansøge.

So soon after it began,

Hvide, mandlige restaurantejere lagde snart sag an for påstået diskrimination.

white male restaurant owners sued, alleging discrimination.

A judge ruled in their favor, and the program was stopped.

En dommer dømte til deres fordel, og programmet blev stoppet.

But by that time, two thirds of the money was already gone.

Men da var to tredjedele af pengene allerede væk.

And it wasn't just white men that got discriminated against in this policy.

Og det var ikke kun hvide mænd, der blev diskrimineret i denne politik.

Around 3,000 women and people of color were promised money

Omkring 3.000 kvinder og folk med mørk hudfarve blev lovet penge,

before the judge stopped the program

før dommeren stoppede programmet,

and then unpromised that money just after.

et løfte, som blev brudt kort tid efter.

And the remaining 10 billion then went to white men

De resterende 10 milliarder gik så til hvide mænd,

who had initially been put at the back of the line.

som oprindeligt stod bagest i køen.

So the net result of this policy was a double dose of discrimination.

Slutresultatet for denne politik blev således en dobbelt dosis diskriminering.

Initially, thousands of white men were discriminated against

I begyndelsen blev der diskrimineret mod tusindvis af hvide mænd,

and then thousands of women and people of color were discriminated against.

og derefter mod tusindvis af kvinder og folk med mørk hudfarve.

And it's a virtual guarantee

Det er næsten garanteret,

that there are people out there who lost their restaurant

at der er folk derude, som mistede deres restauranter

in both of those camps because they were the wrong skin color.

i begge disse lejre, fordi de havde den forkerte hudfarve.

Can anyone really argue

Kan nogen virkelig argumentere for,

that a colorblind program wouldn't have produced better results for everybody?

at et farveblindt program ikke ville have ledt til bedre resultater for alle?

So I just gave an example of a disastrous race-based policy.

Jeg gav netop et eksempel på en katastrofal racebaseret politik.

Now, I want to give you an example

Nu vil jeg give jer et eksempel

of a colorblind policy that has worked quite well.

på en farveblind politik, som har fungeret ret godt.

America has been struggling with the issue of racial bias in policing

USA har kæmpet med racefordomme inden for politivæsenet

for a very long time.

i meget lang tid.

And a solution to one aspect of this problem

En løsning på et aspekt af dette problem

is to issue tickets using traffic cameras instead of human beings.

er at udstede bøder ved hjælp af trafikkameraer i stedet for af mennesker.

Cops can be racially biased, consciously or not,

Politiet kan udvise racistiske fordomme, bevidst eller ubevidst,

but traffic cameras, red light cameras and speeding cameras can't.

men det kan trafikkameraer og fartkameraer ikke.

So you would think anyone interested in reducing racial bias in policing

Man skulle tro, at alle med en interesse for at reducere racefordomme i politiet

would support these traffic cameras.

ville støtte disse trafikkameraer.

But you'd be wrong.

Men her tager man fejl.

Some have opposed them on the grounds

Nogle har modsat sig dem med den begrundelse,

that they don't yield statistically equal ticketing rates by race,

at de ikke rent statistik giver lige så mange bøder efter race,

and they remain illegal in many US states.

og de er stadig ulovlige i mange amerikanske stater.

So here's an example

Så her er et eksempel,

where the philosophy of color blindness cuts through confusion like a knife.

hvor filosofien om farveblindhed skærer gennem forvirring som en kniv.

If we’re guided by color blindness,

Hvis vi lader os lede af farveblindhed,

our goal should be to eliminate bias from systems that affect people's lives

bør vores mål være at fjerne fordomme fra systemer, der påvirker folks liv,

wherever possible,

hvor det end er muligt,

not to manufacture statistically equal outcomes by any means necessary.

ikke at skabe statisk lige resultater med alle nødvendige midler.

So my talk has been focused on America,

Mit fokus her har været på USA,

but my message is really for any key decision maker

men mit budskab retter sig til alle beslutningstagere

at any institution anywhere in the world.

ved alle institutioner i verden.

If you care about fighting racism, embrace color blindness.

Hvis du vil bekæmpe racisme, skal du omfavne farveblindhed.

Support class-based policies.

Støt klassebaserede politikker.

Create colorblind processes in your own world.

Skab farveblinde processer i din egen verden.

If you're a professor,

Hvis du er professor,

grade your students' papers blind to their names.

så bedøm dine studerendes opgaver uden at kigge på deres navne.

Think creatively about how to apply color blindness to your life.

Tænk kreativt om, hvordan du kan indføre farveblindhed i dit liv.

Color blindness is the best principle by which to govern a multiracial,

Farveblindhed er det bedste princip at styre et multiracialt,

multiethnic democracy.

multietnisk demokrati efter.

It's the best way to lower the temperature of tribal conflict in the long run.

Det er den bedste måde at lægge en dæmper på en stammekonflikt på lang sigt.

And if we wait for the moment when society is ready for it,

Og hvis vi venter på det øjeblik, hvor samfundet er klar til det,

we'll be waiting forever.

kommer vi til at vente for evigt.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)

Chris Anderson: Coleman, thank you for this.

Chris Anderson: Coleman, tak for det.

You know, Mellody Hobson came to TED a few years ago,

Mellody Hobson talte ved et TED-event for nogle år siden,

and she had a very different message for us.

og hun havde et helt andet budskab til os.

She said, be color brave, not colorblind.

Hun sagde: Vær farvebevidst, ikke farveblind.

Her argument was that being colorblind is dangerous

Hendes argument var, at det er farligt at være farveblind,

because it's effectively ignoring the problem.

fordi det er at ignorere problemet.

What would you want to say to her?

Hvad vil du gerne sige til hende?

Coleman Hughes: Yeah.

Coleman Hughes: Jo.

One thing I would say is, like I said,

Én ting, jeg ville sige, er, som jeg nævnte,

color blindness as a philosophy, that is the goal.

farveblindhed som en filosofi, det er målet.

That's an idea that comes from the anti-slavery movement, right?

Det er en idé, der stammer fra antislaveribevægelsen, ikke?

That's not an example of ignoring the problem.

Det er ikke et eksempel på at ignorere problemet.

That's an example of having the best philosophy

Det er et eksempel på den bedste filosofi

with which to address the problem, in my view.

til at håndtere problemet, efter min mening.

CA: But could you argue that that dealt with one part of the problem

CA: Men kunne man argumentere for, at det løser en del af problemet,

but in today's world, there are still many situations where it's not enough.

men i dagens verdens er der stadig mange situationer, hvor det ikke er nok.

Take this story of an orchestra, right,

Tag et orkester, et orkester, som hovedsageligt er hvidt.

an orchestra, and it's largely white.

And that doesn't feel right.

Det føles ikke rigtigt.

So they institute a policy of color blindness where,

De indfører en politik om farveblindhed,

you know, there can't be any racial discrimination

hvor der ikke kan være nogen racediskrimination,

because new musicians are auditioned behind a screen.

fordi nye musikere udvælges bag en skærm.

That's colorblind.

Det er farveblindhed.

So, so far, so good.

Så langt, så godt.

And maybe that helps.

Og måske hjælper det.

But maybe the actual situation

Men måske er den faktiske situation den,

is that the minority kids in that area

at minoritetsbørnene i området

just don't have access to instruments,

bare ikke har adgang til instrumenter,

it's just harder for them ever to get the kind of training and stuff they need.

det er ganske enkelt sværere for dem at få den træning og det, de har brug for.

And the orchestra needs to be taking a lead to bring people through

Og orkestret er nødt til at tage føringen for at få folk igennem,

so that there are people in that orchestra who can inspire the kids

så der er folk i orkestret, der kan inspirere børnene og så videre.

and so forth.

CH: Yeah, so I would propose a different --

CH: Ja, så jeg ville foreslå en anden..

So if I were leading that orchestra, what I would do is I'd say,

Så hvis jeg var leder af det orkester, ville jeg sige:

let's continue to audition everyone behind the veil,

Lad os fortsætte med at udvælge bag forhænget,

be colorblind in that sense,

være farveblinde i den forstand,

and then let's separately invest in the community

og lad os så investere separat i lokalsamfundet,

so that we can get kids instruments when they're young

så vi kan give børnene instrumenter, når de er unge

and then judge them by a colorblind standard

og bedømme dem efter en farveblind standard,

when they come to audition.

når de kommer til audition.

See, if you rig it at this level,

Hvis du gør det på dette niveau,

then you're just changing the bar by which you would measure progress

så ændrer du den målestok, som du ville måle fremskridt med

to begin with, right?

til at begynde med, ikke?

So I think that is a kind of an artificial solution,

Så jeg synes, det er en slags kunstig løsning,

whereas we want to maintain colorblind standards,

hvor vi ønsker at opretholde farveblinde standarder,

but actually address the root causes of the problem.

men faktisk adresserer de grundlæggende årsager til problemet.

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)

CA: Coleman, you're an incredibly powerful voice on this issue,

CA: Coleman, du er en utrolig stærk stemme i dette spørgsmål,

and I really thank you for the courage to come here, make this case.

og jeg takker dig virkelig for modet til at komme her og tale din sag.

Good luck with the book.

Helg og lykke med bogen.

CH: Thank you, TED.

CH: Tak, TED.