Even blind people are taught to perceive race through non-visual cues.

Evidence

Research by social psychologists who study how people racially categorize others has suggested that paying attention to race is an automatic process that occurs almost instantaneously when a person encounters a face. Social psychologist Destiny Peery uses computer-generated faces deliberately made to appear “racially ambiguous” to investigate the multiple types of information people compute to arrive at a racial determination. Even people who are born blind have reported that they were taught how to “see” race—by touching other people’s hair, smelling them, or listening to their speech. Race seems to be natural and inherited. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 200

Categorization

• XREF: Complements the standing-directive reading on small acts toward bodies: race perception is bodily-crafted rather than visual datum.
• CANDY: Blind people ‘seeing’ race via hair touch, smell, and speech is a striking, accessible fact.