Maybe I've been living under a rock, but I only found out that the "brown bag test" was an actual, real-life thing yesterday. Yes, I am white and so have the privilege to not know that this is a thing, but in my (admittedly unasked for, but this is my blog) opinion its one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of. Then again, I feel that way about lots of things American society does.
In case someone else doesn't know, the brown bag test states that if a person's skin is the same shade of brown as a paper bag or paler, that person will have more privilege in society. I realize I'm painting in very broad strokes here; this is more of a rant than an exposition. For actual details, google it.
Why does it matter what shade of brown someone's skin is? The only brown bag test we REALLY need is whether or not someone is a good person when we put the paper bag over their head. Why are we still judging by the color of a person's skin and not by the content of his or her character?
Maybe its time for a different brown bag test.
I vote that instead of comparing another person to the color of the paper sack, we put it over our head and make our judgments based on what's left to us. We can no longer tell whether they're black or white, male, female, transgender, their ability level...all we know is how that person treats us. It's much more relevant information.
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