Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism

[riqster]

Interesting article:

http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorblind/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism

Racial issues are often uncomfortable to discuss and rife with stress and controversy. Many ideas have been advanced to address this sore spot in the American psyche. Currently, the most pervasive approach is known as colorblindness. Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity.

At its face value, colorblindness seems like a good thing — really taking MLK seriously on his call to judge people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. It focuses on commonalities between people, such as their shared humanity.

However, colorblindness alone is not sufficient to heal racial wounds on a national or personal level. It is only a half-measure that in the end operates as a form of racism.

A good read. Well worth the time.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. yes, it is. it's pretending that color impacts/does not impact us all equally

when in reality color is a huge determinant of many important life outcomes (unfortunately)

[riqster]

2. The article made a lot of sense to me.

I had suspected as much, but reading this brought it home.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. its also whitewashing history and pretending we all came from the same circumstances

and hence our access to wealth is the same. which it plainly is not

[WatermelonRat]

5. And I would argue that everything except colorblindness is a form of racism.

I am aware that there are people who use a facade of colorblindness to ignore issues of racism, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Colorblindness doesn't mean having absolutely no awareness of race - it means not defining people by it or assigning judgement based upon it. We can recognize modern racial realities and deal with them accordingly, but I think that a colorblind society is a highly desirable goal.