Race isn't something to be ignored - and it should be fairly obvious that people have different skin colours. But a skin colour isn't an identity. The discussion is about what those skin colours signify and how that relates to identity.
Two hundred years ago, skin colour was a good indication of broad culture. It was short-hand that gave you clues about how a certain group of people might behave or think. Skin colour was an indication of otherness.
Society is now much more globalised - and races are far more blended than before - you are living proof of such a thing. Race becomes less and less relevant and more and more confusing the further we step into globalism. Does a black American citizen have more in common with a white American or a Kenyan? Is such a question relevant? Knowing that you're mixed race but are often mistaken as a black man tells me nothing about the complications of being a child of two very different cultures. It simply indicates your skin colour. I'm not interested in that, not because I'm ignoring it - but because it tells me precisely nothing.
I ultimately believe that humans will come to see skin colour the way we currently view height. Skin colour will be little more than an indicator of how much melanin you have. There will be light people and there will be dark people, in the same way there are short people and tall people... but there will be no value attribution to such an observation, it will simply be an observation. .
Perhaps that is pie-in-the-sky thinking, but it will come from attempting to re-centre the conversation about identity from group to individual. It's about asking people 'what else about you is important?' when they structure their world view around a single aspect of their existence. That goes for both sides of the political spectrum. There are plenty of things that all humans have in common and drawing attention to these is one of the quickest ways to reduce prejudiced thinking from everyone.
I think the ideal forum for race to be considered is primary school - and the conclusion must be 'people are different and that's okay, we all share the planet'. I think work needs to be done to ensure that children are mixing with people who don't look like them and are guided through the intuitive 'othering' phase by people who understand the importance of teaching children how to be fair and compassionate.
It's not about ignoring race... and certainly not a time when racism is so prevalent, it's about acknowledging that there's a long way to go - but talking about how we move past race as identity in the same way we have with height. At the moment such an approach cannot happen with either racists or anti-racists because both have positioned skin colour as the only thing of importance to discuss. I believe this is a fundamental mistake and why I debate both sides. It makes me a tough read and people get angry at me - and I'm often accused of being a white supremacist and a black panther on the same day. It's great in the middle.
What I will say is that not everyone comes back for a second go. So thanks. :o)
