Clarence Page and the Pitfalls of "Color Blindness"

What Elizabeth was saying about the comedian who said that people who claim to not see color are pretty much deluding themselves reminded me of an essay I read for sociology last semester--"Showing My Color" by Clarence Page (he also has a book by the same name). I can only find a small portion of it online (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/showingmycolor.htm), but it at least sort of goes into the issue at the bottom of the excerpt. He says that Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement of his dream that he would one day know a time when people would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" has frequently been used to support the idea of "color blindness" (claiming to not see the color of a person's skin)--a use of the phrase that he disagrees with. He counters that "[he doesn't] want Americans to be blind to [his] color as long as color continues to make a profound difference in determining life chances and opportunities. Nor [does he] wish to see so significant a part of [his] identity denied." Also in the essay, he covers a lot of the issues we discussed in relation to African-American Studies. He describes the experience of double-consciousness as being like a "transracial," like "a transsexual who feels trapped in the body of something unfamiliar and inappropriate to his or her inner self." And, on the issue of identity, he says that "there is no one way to be black. We [blacks] are a diverse people amid a nation of diverse people" and that "...a comfortable identity serves to provide not only sense of belonging and protection for the individual against racism, but also, ultimately, a sturdy foundation from which the individual can interact effectively with other people, cultures, and situations beyond the world of blackness."All in all, he makes some good points, I think, and I would reccomend reading the essay (I cannot speak for how the whole book is, as I haven't read it) if you can locate a more complete copy.