What does it matter?

What in the world makes it necessary to mention the color of a person's skin when talking about an accomplishment (which, if you will allow me to point out, should be fairly obvious when a photo is posted with an article, or there is footage of a criminal being taken away in handcuffs on the evening news) ?

Today's example: Olympian Gabby Douglas.

In this country - in the U.S.A. - there are no color restrictions for becoming an Olympic athlete. Your acceptance onto 'Team U.S.A.' depends solely on your skills...your prowess...your abilities. And those skills must beat out others who possess similar power, determination, speed and agility.

I never saw any screaming headlines to the effect of "X number of blacks make the United States Olympic team for 2012", so why make a tremendous deal of her color now that she's won?

What should it matter the color of a person's skin when they're holding an Olympic medal? I thought we finally broke the color barrier once President Obama took office.

Seriously?!

Jesse Owens (bless his soul) took on the weight of the world when he participated in the "Hitler Olympics" in 1936. He upset nearly everyone (in some way) all of those years ago - including people of color - and did so spectacularly. But he paid a heavy price at the time so that black Americans could have a fair shot at getting past the 'color barrier' down the road.

And here we are, all these decades later, still making a big deal of it at every turn.

I am very happy for Gabby to have won an Olympic gold, but did the color of her skin give her an edge? Did it hold her back in some way? Did it hamper her chances when standing toe-to-toe against the world?

Does it really matter that she's black?

There was no ticker tape parade-style announcement regarding Kristi Yamaguchi's obvious non-white race status when she won gold two decades ago, and you don't see the Brits making pronouncement on their athlete's color - because to the British, their mixed national population is still simply British; subjects of the crown.

But here in America, land of the free and home of the brave, and the white, and the yellow, and the olive, and the brown, and the this and the that.....here we can't just say "American." There has to be a label.

Well I, for one, can't wait until that first Plaid American wins an Olympic medal. Then, maybe, the needless need to point out the color of one's skin will cease - from every one's mouth!

Why can't we all be colorblind!?