My friend Kaye gave me a shock.
We were in the middle of a conversation some years ago when I casually said something about “being a black woman” and Kaye asked:
“You’re black?”
“Of course!” I replied. Then: “Wait …. You didn’t know that I’m black, Kaye? How is that possible? We’ve known each other for years!”
“Well,” Kaye promptly replied. “How would I know?”
“But how could you not know that I’m black?”
“Cynthia…. I’m blind, remember?”
Right. Of course.
But once I get a bee in my bonnet, Lord help us. So I kept going:
“Well, what about all the talks we’ve had about life and diversity, and social injustice and ….”
“Yes… It’s one of the reasons we get along so well. We care about many of the same things. But I still didn’t know you were black, Cynthia.”
Shock. Realization. Awe. Followed by peals of laughter from both of us.
“I think we can now conclude that I am a total idiot…” I finally said.
Of course, I’ve not captured the dialogue word-for-word here, but close enough for truth.
Diversity is a wondrous thing. In humans, nature and even ways of thinking. But after that conversation, I wondered what the world would be like if we couldn’t see each other’s colour, body shape and such things. If we could only “see” people through their character.
I thought about it again this morning when blogger David Prosser shared this link to a video of one man’s experiment. Here it is:
Cynthia Reyes 