Race Relations 101 - Colorblindness.
[Bah. Guess I jinxed my rush. Oh well, I'll blog instead and hope the thought comes back to me soon.]
So what’s the problem with colorblindness? A lot of people will offer “I’m colorblind” as a symbol of good faith; they’re trying to express that they aren’t actively thinking racist things, and that they don’t see the race of others as a problem. And, as far as that goes, it’s a sweet thought. Really. But it functions for PoC in much the same way as “you’re just one of the guys” and “I don’t think of you as a girl” functions for women. It’s a nice thought, but it misses the point entirely.
I don’t want [my race] to not be a problem for you; I don’t want race to be problematic.
The distinction may seem subtle, but it really isn’t. When a person says “I don’t see color” as a way of saying “your race is not a problem for me,” it casts the problem as race. Race is not the problem, racism is.
That’s the first, and biggest, problem.
The second problem with colorblindness is a lot like the problem with “white pride.” There are, to be sure, perfectly innocuous (even virtuous) ways to mean that phrase. But the term comes with baggage, and the baggage means you have to work even harder to get your good intentions heard. If you don’t mean it poorly, we’re not talking about you - mean, nasty, clueless, or willfully obtuse people stole the term from you, and you have every right to be mad at them about it. But don’t say it. If you mean race-neutral, say race-neutral. Don’t use a term that’s likely to make all of the PoC around you wince and look askance at you when you could use a better, more accurate, less loaded term instead.
Why is it loaded? Well, there’s the distinction I made above - that it casts my race as a problem rather than your inability to deal with it - but there are other things as well. A lot of people use the concept of colorblindness to advocate policies that are at best racial ostrich-holes (”talking about race perpetuates racism, so lets just stop talking about it”) and at worst outright harmful (“noticing race makes us racist - lets stop collecting racial statistics so we won’t be racist”), not to mention rude (”You keep talking about race, so you’re the real racist, not me!”).
In that respect, talking about colorblindness with a person of color (or an anti-racist ally) is like talking to a feminist about gender equality or father’s rights; sounds good in theory, but often used as code for things that really suck.
That’s the 101 view. There is, of course, way more to it than that. Let’s get to the linking.
I wrote a three part series on Colorblindness a ways back: Part I gives my personal history with the term and associated theories. Part II offers context and analysis, including step-by-step discussion of the specific issues with colorblindness as a theory and practice. Part III pulls it all together, sort of.
XicanoPwr has a lovely post on the issue: Structured Racism
The concept of a color-blind society was inspired by the types Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he advocated judging people not by the color of their skin, but by their internal character. But it was misguided and devious advocates who co-opted it, taken it out of context and failed to grasp a basic assumption made by King. The aim of a color-blind America is an old and valued idea. When segregation was legal and racial classification determined where one sat or drank, worked, lived, or went to school, color-blindness meant ending the color-coded laws of southern apartheid. Color-blindness was the reverse of Jim Crow. Those were different times; color-blindness has now come to mean that “whiteness” is the default key to mimic the norms of fairness, justice and equity by “whiting” out differences and perpetuating the belief in sameness. The denial of power imbalance, unearned privilege and racist domination are couched in the rhetoric of equal treatment and equal opportunity.
Rachel gives us:
Colorblind Racism
One of the most important elements of contemporary racism is the emergence of the “colorblind ideology.” The colorblind ideology asserts that color is not important and should not be the basis for social judgments. The key problem with colorblind ideology is that it is an abstract principle that does not hold true in practice, particularly in the practice of marriage and intimacy (Bonilla Silva 2001). This new racist ideology is often referred to as colorblind or laissez faire racism.
And
Colorblind Racism vs. Old Fashioned Racism
Sociologists Eduardo Bonilla Silva argues that colorblind racism involves1. increasingly covert racial discourses and practices,
2. avoidance of racial terminology and claims by whites that they experience “reverse discrimination,”
3. a racial agenda in the discussion of political matters that avoids direct racial references,
4. invisibility of the mechanisms of racial inequality, and
5. the rearticulation of some of the elements of Jim Crow racism (pg. 90).One of the most important elements of contemporary racism is the emergence of the “colorblind ideology.” The colorblind ideology asserts that color is not important and should not be the basis for social judgments. The key problem with colorblind ideology is that it is an abstract principle that does not hold true in practice (Bonilla Silva 2001).
Mark Halstead writes:
Education, Justice, and Cultural Diversity: An Examination of the Honeyford Affair, 1984-85″(6) Color-Blind Racism: Color-blind racism is the type which most closely corresponds to what is commonly called ‘unintentional racism.’… What is it that makes color-blindness a type of racism rather than merely a misguided form of action? I want to argue that color-blindness not only leads to undesirable outcomes (the disadvantaging of black people by ignoring or marginalizing their distinctive needs, experiences and identity), but may also involve racial injustice. It is not a new idea (indeed it can be traced back to Aristotle) that there can be injustice in treating people the same when in relevant respects they are different, just as much as there can be in treating them differently when in relevant respects they are the same….When a color- blind approach is adopted to any social policy in this country, white people are usually able to dominate because the common experiences are defined in terms which white people can more easily relate to than blacks and which tend to bolster the white self-image at the expense of the black….Color- blindness falls down because it is based on an idealistic principle (that all people are equal) which may be valid sub specie aeternitatis but which fails to take account of the contingent facts of racial inequality and disadvantage in our present society. (139-55)
I hope that’s a good start for ya. I’ll add more if anything comes to my attention. I know there’s stuff I’m missing.
baby221 said,
August 22, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
I think that’s an excellent start. I’m going to pass these along to the beau, if you don’t mind; he’s trying to get a handle on this anti-racism stuff and it helps if he can hear different perspectives (not to mention more concise explanations :p) on different concepts.
Andrew said,
August 22, 2007 @ 6:51 pm
Mag,
Thanx for putting this together. I’ve read Rachel’s writing over on Alas, but I need to go over it again, plus the other material you’ve provided. I’ve had conversations with young whites about this and explaining why color-blindness is actually problematic is a tough one.
magniloquence said,
August 23, 2007 @ 8:22 am
I don’t mind at all! Pass it along, send people here, the whole deal. While it’s still no Finally, A Feminism 101 blog, I figure it’s better t’have people asking the questions here than bugging people with ‘em elsewhere, even if I don’t always have answers as .. lengthy.. as this one. Tell me if he likes it!
And it’s my pleasure, Andrew. Explaining this stuff is hard and annoying, because it’s subtle and requires listening for things a lot of people don’t have practice listening for. Heh. I just wish I’d had all of this when I was trying to explain this stuff to my Ex.
Lloyd Webber said,
August 23, 2007 @ 10:19 am
Not to mention that saying ‘I don’t see race,’ is a blatant falsehood unless you’re legally blind
magniloquence said,
August 23, 2007 @ 10:21 am
*snickers*
That too.
(Though, of course, it can be difficult to pinpoint… my siblings and I still get people wandering up to us and asking “What are you?” But that’s not nearly the same as ‘not seeing it.’)
Lloyd Webber said,
August 23, 2007 @ 11:13 am
>Putting away the snark<
The main problem I have with colorblindedness is that it erases a vital part of the lives and experiences of people of color. my being African while not the most important characteristic I have is a source of comfort and strength to me, and I have never ever wanted to be anything else.
Saying to me that you don’t see my race is telling me that you only see the parts of me that make you comfortable and completely ignores the situations I was and will be involved in that occur due to my being African and Black
Cara said,
August 23, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Excellent post. Thank you.
Betina said,
August 24, 2007 @ 11:11 am
I agree 100% with what you’re asserting here. But. I think what most misguided folks mean with “colourblindness” isn’t that they’re not seeing that you’re African American or Hispanic, but that they don’t use the hue of one’s skin (black, brown, white, whatever) to judge the content of a person’s character.
Or maybe I just place too much faith in people.
Either way, excellent post and it expresses most of my thoughts on the issue better than I ever could.
Race Relations 101 - What if I screw up? « Feline Formal Shorts said,
August 24, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
[...] is partially true - there is a lot of history, and as the colorblindness issue illustrates, even the most earnestly good-natured sentiments can come with a lot of baggage. [...]
Blackamazon said,
August 25, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
did i already ask you if i could still this for Cora
cause im gonna
annaham said,
August 26, 2007 @ 11:06 am
”talking about race perpetuates racism, so lets just stop talking about it”
I’m as white as can be, but I have NEVER understood this reasoning, which, in my experience (which isn’t universal, of course) has come most often from other white folks. How on Earth can *not* talking about something make it better? To me, such reasoning seems like just another tactic to quash discussions of race, white privilege and how those things function in culture, society and in everyday life.
I love this series of posts, by the way. I suppose on some level, I’m just another clueless white feminist, but it’s nice to read these posts and (*gulp*) have these things “spelled out” so that I can be aware of them, and know, somewhat, how to be more sensitive to these issues in the future.
Why you shouldn't be colorblind at Race in the Workplace - how diversity, race and racism influence our working lives said,
November 7, 2007 @ 4:01 am
[...] Race Relations 101 - Colorblindness Colorblind Racism Say what? Colorblind, Part II Colorblind Racism vs. Old Fashioned Racism [...]
Jennifer Lee said,
December 7, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
I appreaciate the lesson in “colorblindness.” I think it’s something a lot of people need to hear, and I think that most of my black friends would definitly agree with you.
My question is a little off topic though. Interracial relations (particularly between black and white Americans) has been a subject of interest to me for more than ten years, but answers seem to allude me. Partially because I do not encounter many black people who are willing to talk with me on the subject. (I’m giving you this history for a reason. It sets the stage for my questions.) Anyway, the truth is, while I have several international black friends, I can probably count one hand the number of friendly black American acquaintances that I have. (I’m not sure that you are American, but I’m kind of hoping that you are.)
I never feel more uncomfortable than when I am in a group of black Americans. I have often been admonished for using the term “black” around young African-American people, while others seem to prefer the term “black American.” Most of my classes address racism aggressively. (I’m in a Master in Counseling program, and obviously will be expected to be able to work with clients of different races, ethnic backgrounds, and social situations.) Through those classes, I have become more aware of the not only my biases but also my own unwillingness to identify myself as white because of the guilt I associate with it. I often read the literature of leaders in the black community like Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, Soujourner Truth (or rather accounts of her life), etc and some of that literature expresses not only the oppression and stigmatism of black people at the hands of white people, but also a distrust of those white people who make an effort to change. I remember specifically one of Maya Angelou’s books describing a scene in which a white woman expressed support for the “struggle” by simply attending a play that “ridiculed and insulted” (Maya’s words not mine) white people, vividly pointing out the injustices. Maya relates how she asks the woman if she would be her friend, pointing out her superficial support and deeper perjudice.
My first question to you is that if a white person were not superficial and truly wanted to understand and effect change, how would that person go about proving that to the black community? On some level, I think that if the black community does not accept sincerity in a white person, the person will never be an effective agent of change regardless of what she believes.
My second question is about that guilt that I feel as I result of my racial history. I think I understand the white tendency to say that we “are colorblind.” We associate oppression and injustice with being white. It is a historical fact (not just in the US but in Africa, the Carribean, India, etc, etc.), but no one wants to feel guilt about who they are, so we ignore our own race and yours. Do you think this guilt could be a factor in the continued separation and tension between black and white communities, and the continued inequality between us? And do you see the possibility of healing between us?
Nanette said,
December 7, 2007 @ 11:14 pm
Hi Jennifer:
My first question to you is that if a white person were not superficial and truly wanted to understand and effect change, how would that person go about proving that to the black community?
Step One - There is no such creature as “the black community”.
Step Two - … Well, once step one is understood, steps two thru gazevendy billion should be a piece of cake.
Sylvia said,
December 8, 2007 @ 5:16 am
One of the strongest ways for healing the racial problems in this country is to confront America’s racist history together and to see how it influences the present. It has little to do with “feeling guilty about who you are” (though because of this racist history, people of color have had to feel guilty about who they are for generations) and everything to do with facing these histories and injustices so that we can make structural and interpersonal inroads in understanding each other. I would say the guilt makes people very reluctant to look at anything regarding white actions in the past because it puts people in the mindset of thinking people of color want apologies or hugs or something, and then things return to the status quo. That’s not how true healing or true change works.
(Unfortunately, I’m not as succinct as Nanette.)
Nanette said,
December 8, 2007 @ 8:46 am
Heh. Okay, maybe a bit too succinct. I am not at my best in the evenings.
Jennifer:
My first question to you is that if a white person were not superficial and truly wanted to understand and effect change, how would that person go about proving that to the black community?
There is actually no way to do this. I am not sure what sort of counseling you are going into, but say you have one black community come into your office - she’s got a high school education, 3 kids, 2 jobs, no family members in the area, thus no safety net or backup - by dealing honorably and with respect with that black community, maybe you can start to build up an element of trust. But then the next black community comes in - maybe he’s been in trouble most of his life, sees no future or no prospects, is hopeful in doing so but has been let down too much. That black community may never trust you, ever.
Another black community comes in - he may, on the surface, resemble the black community that just left, but maybe he’s already been successfully running his own business for the past few years, is active in his neighborhood and working with schools to help bring children along - that particular black community might look at you and think that, even if you are not perfect, you are worth working with as your goals are the same and you have skills he admires. Cool, yet another black community you were able to prove something to.
Maybe then comes a young female black community, she’s off the charts smart, focused, musical, artistic and not really concerned about whether she likes you or not, or you like her, she just has some places she needs to go and perhaps she needs to go through you to get there. This black community would necessarily view you differently than the old woman who is tired and just wants a rest black community, and the old man who hopes he can finally just work on his furniture building, or making toys for kids black community.
So, you see… each black community you meet is not only different from the black community you just met a minute ago, thus causing you to prove whatever again to the black community, they might not even have any concept of the lives, thoughts, dreams or experiences of the black community they just passed in the hall.
Also, what Sylvia said.
Theriomorph said,
December 8, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
Nanette, may I just take this moment to proclaim my undying love? Thank you.
United Nations is racially colorblind, thinks Canadian term “visible minorities” is racist! « Restructure! said,
March 27, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
[...] of why colorblindness subverts antiracist work is well-articulated by Magniloquence in the post Race Relations 101: Colorblindness: I don’t want [my race] to not be a problem for you; I don’t want race to be [...]