Quote:
Originally posted by FuzzieAlum
I think it's different when it's your brother, who you've spent your whole life with, than when it's just someone you know. It's usually a silly statement, because race is one of the first things we notice about a person, and to pretend you don't is a little hypocritical. Now if it's your brother, you probably mostly think of his as your hero or a pain in the arse, even if he's a purple man from Mars.
To say you think of a person as your sorority sister/roommate/co-worker before you think of them as [insert race here] is one thing, as I don't think any of us want to be defined race-first - but to say that you somehow managed to never even notice their race (and somehow assumed they were the same race as you) strikes me as such a strenuous attempt to pretend that race doesn't matter that it's obvious that race does matter. It's implying that X race is somehow different from your race, and it also implies that that person has "risen above" their race to be like yours.
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For the record (and I'm not saying you're talking about me personally, I just don't want to be misunderstood), I wasn't saying that I don't notice race. I think everyone does when they meet someone, just like you notice hair color, body type, etc. But after I've personally developed a relationship with someone, it's not one of the first things that pop into my head when thinking about that person. If someone else asks me to describe that person physically, I mention it, but if I'm just talking about the person, I don't say their race/religion/sexual orientation/etc. unless it has some bearing on the story I'm telling.
The girl saying she never noticed her brother's race was also 12 or so when she said that...considering her age, I thought it was a fairly wise, and heartfelt, statement.