This is semantic nonsense. Should white people treat nonwhite people better than white people? Worse than white people? If not, you'd have to explain to me why not. I judge people by their words and, more importantly, by their actions. How is ‘I’m Colorblind’ a microaggression?

Equity Doula:

I’m so glad you asked!

I judge people by their words and, more importantly, by their actions.

This itself is not a microaggression. Yes, treat people by their merits, by their words. 100%. No one said that is the issue. Also, no, don't treat people better or worse based on their skin. See your point - judge people based on their words and actions.

What is a microaggression, is not acknowledging that people who are not white have a different experience then white people do in the same spaces and that they experience racism to varying degrees, depending on how far they are from being white.

I'll give you a personal experience as an example. I am multiracial and can pass for white if I straighten my hair, wear certain things, and talk a certain way. When I was first starting out as a professional, I was told over and over to do exactly what I mentioned above and I did. I was accepted and made a great name for myself but there was always a nagging feeling inside - that I could never be me. I hated it. It started to make me hate who I was and I tried to fully pass all the time.

It took me a long time to work through being confident enough to wear my hair naturally and now I even wear my hair in braids.

Wanting to treat people according to who they are is wonderful! Use that lens and put yourself in my shoes or another person of color and try to understand how it feels to be told you can't be yourself if you want to do your best - You have to emulate someone who looks nothing like you so you seem like them and are accepted. If you are a young white person you are told to be confident, be yourself.

This is just one of countless examples, where people whose skin is different receive different information and have vastly different experiences in the exact same space.

The microaggression “I’m colorblind” is NOT about wanting to treat people the same, it is also NOT about wanting to judge people by their merits. BUT it is about, not being able to see, admit, or acknowledge there are differences in the way people are treated and it is connected to their race.