I have a dream…

Today is the day the U.S. officially observes Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.  His most famous speech is the “I have a dream” or Dream speech and today I wanted to share a dream of my own.  A while back for “dream day,” I posted this to Instagram:

I fear that I may never see this day come during my lifetime, but I can still dream that it can come true.  I hate there is a need to differentiate between people.  Why can’t we just be people?  Or maybe instead of a descriptor that is based on race, gender, religious belief or sexual orientation; we used positive adjectives?  Instead of me being seen as black female Colleen.  How about happy Colleen?  Always trying to stay positive Colleen?  Or use the descriptor that person puts out?  Freelance graphic designer Colleen.

When people ask me about myself, I don’t say, “well I’m female and I’m black, my religious beliefs are…”  That’s not how I describe myself or introduce myself.  Most people don’t describe themselves based on those attributes either…unless that is how they want to be known.  I would love to see a day when if someone asked, “do you know Colleen?”  The standard answer would be similar to, “Graphic designer Colleen, yeah I know her.”  🙂