The Raging Blindfold : The Struggling Blindfold

When trying to understand the concept of color blindness we first need to understand what the term means. It is a set of beliefs in which white individuals judge non-white individuals as if they were treated equally ignoring past racism (Scott p. 77). Individuals who use color blindness do so through four central frames usually used together. The four frames are abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, and minimization of racism. To understand how the four frames are sometimes used together we need to understand their meaning.

A lot of people’s responses to this racism and inequality is to say that we should all just be colorblind. We should see people as

This chapter on the framework of the colorblind ideology seems to be the most concrete and logical chapter in the book. This chapter is very well put together, with examples that cover a wide variety of topics. He also illustrates the concept of the frameworks playing into one another very well. The premise of these four frameworks as an “impregnable yet elastic wall that barricades whites from the United States’ racial reality” makes perfect logical sense as an explanation for the “racism without racists” culture seen in the US (47). Changing attitudes towards race relations forced a change in the manifestation of racist ideologies.

Racism is a word that sparks a nerve in many individuals today. As hard as it is to believe, racism is still a big factor in what we as a society know as a unified America. Although, it is not as obvious as it was in the past, it still goes on, just in ways that are less noticeable. We ask the question, is the emphasis on a color-blind society an answer to racism. Ward Connerly claims it is a way to stop the segregation and make America a whole as it has been striving to be for the longest. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva believes color-blind racism is the new racial ideology and still brings about racial inequality. As the solution to the question progresses, we ask ourselves, will a

I think many people are blind to the subject of racism because racism of today's world is covert and furtive versus several decades ago when one could be open and public about their acts of racism. Not only is racism causing a discord amongst the citizens of a place that is considered to be a “safe space,” “home of the free and the land of the brave,” and “many opportunities and equal opportunity” for those within its borders and to immigrants who aspire to come here but racism has caused a sense of lost identity amongst many individuals in the African American community. Often looking for ways to figure out who they are aside from what the white man says they are or should be or can do.

Colorblindness is a defect in the perception of colors, caused by a deficiency in specialized cells in the retina that are sensitive to different colors. The term is often used today during political discourse, often by members of some factions of liberalism, when claiming that one’s race should be irrelevant to any decision making process. It is a form of moral posturing; that one should see an individual as simply an individual, but not as part of any larger group or culture. As if this philosophy will enable us to bridge any gaps between races, this thought attempts to focus on how we are all the same, rather than how we differ. Teachers and administrators are required to complete coursework pertaining to multicultural education

Colorblindness has helped disseminate racism in the United States since the Civil Rights movements of the mid-sixties, by perpetuating anti-blackness and racial discrimination against other minorities. Colorblindness is a new form of racism, the new “Jim Crow” which “Legitimizes the state and society as racially neutral although they are not neutral” and creates the belief that we have become post-racial and we are all equal. While preaching homogeneity, colorblindness uses mechanisms by which white racial domination is structured and as a result, colorblind racism has caused a widespread of anti-blackness and racial discrimination against Latinos, Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians.

Racism is defined as the systematic subordination of certain racial groups by those groups in power . As a society, we must first eradicate ignorance in order to defeat racism. We must acknowledge that people have different ways of viewing the world and that even though someone may have a different opinion than you, it is not necessarily wrong. The idea that people have different ways of viewing the world stems from standpoint theory. Standpoint theory is based on the concept that people view the world differently depending on their social standing . A central theme of standpoint theory is that a person’s racial and or ethnic background deeply impacts how they view and interact with the world . Racial

Color blind racism is an “ideology, which acquired cohesiveness and dominance in the late 1960s, explains contemporary racial inequality as the outcome of nonracial dynamics,” according to Bonilla-Silva

A popular notion says a child is born “color-blind” and remains color-blind until they reach adolescence. The problem with this concept is that people believe it to be a positive idea. However, it actually presents a damaging ideology – it suggests that race should not be a factor when trying to determine the type of person an individual is. I see it as an unsophisticated approach to view people because race is a vital part of our existence. Race is an attribute that makes individuals differ from one another, and the problem is not the differences in the colors of our skin. The problem is that we attempt to detach ourselves from the reality of being racially different. Racism will seem to inevitably exist, and in order to even try to end the malice, parents should begin teaching children about racism the right way.

In chapter eight, Kill the Messenger, from Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century, the author Gary Delgado discusses how certain states do not follow a colorblind system that they claim to. Delgado first brings up the concept of colorblindness and how many conservatives claim that they live in a colorblind society. Many individuals who believe in colorblindness claim that people of color are now equal and that the racism, discrimination, murder, and exploitation they underwent in the past five centuries no longer matter (Martinez, LaBennett, & Pulido, 2012). They argue, however, that the only kind of racism there is, is reverse racism against whites. Delgado refutes this by claiming that just because more diversity is being put into governmental offices does not necessarily mean America as a whole is past its racist and discriminatory actions.

I certainly concur with Tim Wise as he spoke about colorblind denial and white privileged. He says that a great amount of people will agree

Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their

While an ally might be aware of colorblind racism they must realise that being aware without putting in an effort to interact with people of color only perpetuates white habitus. For example, an ally can’t simply say that they’re okay with having minority friends, but when promoted about them say things like “ ‘I’d have to say my three best friends are white girls, but I definitely had an excellent girlfriend that was African American’ “ (127) only to clarify that they never really hung out with that black friend. Statements like these only promote white habitus, leading white people to assume things like there’s no problem with race or how people of color stay segregated in their own communities because it’s their “natural” inclination to do so. By interacting with people of color, an ally can dispel the ideas about race caused by living and interacting solely with only other white folks, thus challenging the prejudices brought upon them by colorblind racism. In addition to challenging colorblind racism in themselves, an effective ally should also educate others in their fight for equality. Many people believe that racism has died out with slavery and while that is true, slavery and Jim Crow racism does not exist in modern day society, a new type of racism does- colorblind

It has been a common assumption that the moral character of an individual is linked to their race. Consequently, this has been a major propagator of racism. Furthermore, this has been spread people who the author refers to as “dog whistle politicians” who think that the whites have to succeed because they have the values, work ethics, and orientations required for success. According to Lopez, using colorblindness as a means of looking beyond the skin color of an individual would be helpful in dealing with racism as a whole. Colorblindness has a great role in fighting the establishment of racial policies and in dealing with dog whistle themes. Some of the chief advocates of colorblindness such as Martin Luther King, ending segregation were not the only drive in fighting for civil rights, but also changing the common mindset of linking some races with misery. (82) In recent times, a lot has been done to try and fight the racial stereotyping “deep connection between race and disadvantage” although some gains have been achieved, the author states that a lot has to be done yet.