“Blue, black, yellow, plaid, etc.”

A patron of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, or someone purporting to be a patron, wrote a letter of complaint about the orchestra’s decision to devote its 2021–2022 season to the work of Black composers.

An excerpt, preserving the errors in the original:

I feel you could and should structure your programing and events as ‘musicians’ and their contribution to the art,or a style not weather they are blue, black, yellow, plaid, etc.

I don’t take this letter at face value: I suspect that it’s the work of a provocateur. What interests me though is not the identity of the writer but the items in a series: “blue, black, yellow, plaid, etc.”

Why do white people so often bring colors not found in humankind into discussions of race? “I don’t care if you’re black, white, green, or purple,” &c. I think doing so serves two purposes. One, the catalog of colors loudly proclaims a lack of racism and shows just how much the white person means it: “You could be green for all I care,” any color, of course, being a deviation from the default setting white. At the same time, the catalog renders the realities of color and racism absurd — because there are no green or purple people. The catalog of colors thus urgently marks the white person’s distance from racism while simultaneously trivializing the reality of color — which in itself is a racist gesture.

I thought these thoughts on my own. But I am late to the game.

Related reading
The invocation of strangely colored people (Rachel Manija) : Stuff white people do: invoke strangely colored people (macon d) : You Don’t Care if Someone Is Black, White, Green, or Purple? You Should! (Katy Waldman)

[And what about all the seasons devoted to the work of white composers? The provocateur appears not to understand irony. “Black, white, green, or purple” appears to be a common series. I knew it before reading Katy Waldman’s essay.]