“Whence all this passions towards conformity anyway? Diversity is the word…Why, if they follow this conformity business, they’ll end up by forcing me, an invisible man, to become white, which is not a color but a lack of one.”

The remarks made by Invisible Man in the Epilogue of Ralph Ellison’s literary masterpiece exemplify the consequences of a misguided view on the issue of race. An effective paradigm of racial relations thus necessitates embracing the distinctive epistemological view points and socio-historical experiences inherent to the racial spectrum.

The difficulty lies in the appeal of flawed notions of equality predicated upon the conscious disregard of the unique characteristics that define our humanity and our identity as individuals. Brother Wrestrum’s argument against Invisible Man holding Brother Tarp’s leg iron, a symbol of racial injustice, and his encouragement to “to make folks think about the things we have in common” appear on a superficial level as the appropriate attitudes to hold to undermine racism because of our well-intentioned strive for equality. The flaw of such approach lies its discouragement of constructive engagement with the oppressed and marginalized “other”, because only through the understanding of the sources of racism can we truly realize our privilege.

The realization of privilege and its acknowledgment is the necessary precondition towards developing a meaningful connection with those other than ourselves; and that connection generates an internal motivation to address injustice that in turn heightens the awareness of discrimination and of the socio-political structures creating a gap among the various racial groups in a society. Confronting the existence of privilege thus encourages embracing “the other” as separate but equal entity, without relying on a colorblind approach to politics that inhibits the inclusion of marginalized groups.

Acknowledging one’s position of privilege simultaneously implies the acknowledgment of the racist stains of the epistemology of the perpetrators, because through the acceptance of such reality intellectual efforts are not wasted on assigning gradual level of culpability to different groups. Such mentality is more often than not counter-productive because it detracts from the development of effective methods to redress racial injustice.

Intellectual interaction and constructive engagement with “the other” empower all races to go beyond merely avoiding racism, and go one step further in motivating ethical conduct. Specifically, our bond with our fellows spurs us to liberate both the perpetrators from the influence of historical racism as well as the marginalized groups from a cultural heritage chaining them to inferiority complexes that have dis-empowered them for so long.

In essence, the practices of racial inequality should not go unlearned: they should be cherished as historical notions to move away from, to which methods of racial advancement can be contrasted. Racial equality should not produce a flawed colorblind approach to social interaction, but rather an inclusive attitude towards the nuances that make individuals unique, because that type of engagement unveils the origins of privilege and inequality. The understanding of oppressive structures and the impacts of racism on communities, masses and fellow humans then paves the way for an internalized desire to seek racial equality, which in turn motivates cultural movements, government policies, and individual efforts to act upon social responsibility.