America wrestles with race like the country can only be viewed through a prism of the color wheel.
Many right wingers and conservatives takes Dr. King’s statement “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” to imply that he insisted on America being color-blind.
Being color blind suggests that we do not take into consideration the distinctive elements of each individual’s identity, yet we are supposed to view them as colorless and magically everyone will get along, thus making the nation post-racial.
This notion dismisses an entire group of people thus parochializing Dr. Kings dream and vision for love and justice for everyone. He fought for working people, poor people in Appalachia, poor people deep down in the Delta, red, brown, white, black and people with disabilities. So he didn’t only fight for color but fought class also, and his dream included “the least of thee.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted America to be love-struck, not color-blind. Love-struck embraces all the elements of your identity and along with their traits and characteristics that make you who you are. You can’t love someone if you don’t know their gender, if you don’t know their race or what their bodies look like. To be love-struck is too love and embrace who they are, embrace their culture and embrace their history and heritage.
The notion of being love-struck as opposed to color-blind is relatively important when it comes to folks with disabilities. Being color-blind only suggests that people don’t see color and everyone should get along based on the notion that we are all the same color. What about the difference of physical appearance?
The social definition of what is normal has been etched into society’s psyche so deep that it doesn’t have to be said because it is already understood. If someone’s body differs or deviates from that unwritten definition, then they are not normal but classified as different.
People with disabilities undeniably lament an enigmatic mind state for mainstream society. For people with disabilities, being color-blind only solves part of their social problem and doesn’t even address the fundamental concept of what’s normal and socially accepted in terms of able-bodiness. People with disabilities are sifted in this American Diaspora and are not challenged by society to a level of excellence or mediocrity, but failure is expected and accepted.
Any person or race that is not challenged to excellence is done a disservice by mainstream society. Dr. King’s notion of being love-struck embodies this great country’s motto “E pluribus unum,” and was intended to prevent any race or group from social inertia.
