"Colorblind" racism
Every so often we talk about race here at DU and people say stuff like, "I don't pay attention to race" or "I wish people would stop focusing on race."
But this is actually a form of racism. The people doing it might be well meaning, but claiming to be colorblind and/or seeing that as an ideal aren't helping rid the country of racism at all.
A few articles to explain this:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorblind/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism
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.
Problems with the colorblind approach
Racism? Strong words, yes, but let's look the issue straight in its partially unseeing eye. In a colorblind society, White people, who are unlikely to experience disadvantages due to race, can effectively ignore racism in American life, justify the current social order, and feel more comfortable with their relatively privileged standing in society (Fryberg, 2010). Most minorities, however, who regularly encounter difficulties due to race, experience colorblind ideologies quite differently. Colorblindness creates a society that denies their negative racial experiences, rejects their cultural heritage, and invalidates their unique perspectives.
http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-36-fall-2009/feature/colorblindness-new-racism
Such incidents are examples of racial “colorblindness” — the idea that ignoring or overlooking racial and ethnic differences promotes racial harmony.
Trainers and facilitators say colorblindness does just the opposite: folks who enjoy racial privilege are closing their eyes to the experiences of others.
“It benefits me not to pay attention,” says Benn, who is white. “I never have to question whether or not my race is being held in question when I apply for a job. It benefits me not to question that (because) it makes it look like I got here on my own.”
http://www.policymic.com/articles/55867/colorblindness-is-the-new-racism
We don't have a race problem, except that, of course, we do.
To dismiss the voices, experiences, and perspectives of black people with such callous disregard is not only itself racist, but is precisely the type of contextual erasure to which President Obama was speaking on Friday.
Look around; those who claim that race had nothing to do with the Zimmerman trial, that President Obama's remarks were "race-baiting," that racism is not a problem in the United States anymore, are almost always white. White people, who will probably never experience racial discrimination in America and are all too often the purveyors of that discrimination, feel all too comfortable declaring, over the overwhelmingly dissenting voices of people of color, that racism has ended. What a perfect encapsulation of white privilege and the entitlement that goes along with it.
"Colorblindness" sounds like a just and harmonious idea in theory, except that when put into practice, it discounts and erases the racial discrimination and oppression that people of color continually experience. It has become a tool to reify white supremacy and perpetuate the oppression of people of color by dismissing racial justice efforts and invalidating their experiences and perspectives. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned a day where people were judged on not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character, yes, but he also knew that we had to do the work to get to that point. Colorblindness cannot work in a society that has not truly reconciled the racism upon which our country was built. We are applying colorblindness as a bandage before we even attempt to cleanse our painfully deep racist wound.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Response to gollygee (Reply #8)
I give you credit for posting this. 
Good luck - a few of us have found that we've got some folks here at DU that really are extremely hostile to minorities - but they stand right on the line of TOS and there's nothing we can do about it. . . other than to make them miserable (for example) if they venture into certain groups. I.E. We can stand RIGHT on the line of TOS too and get away with just as much murder -
^and this is the only time I will post those words at DU. 
^
Familiar with TOS. We had a member of the AA Group that got hidden by a jury right after the Martin verdict - I went and posted the exact same thing with a few tweaking of words and not even an alert. I have an advantage in that I'm founding member / admin/ mod status of an active board focused on women with a TOS that makes this one look like a joke. From having booted passive aggressive members over the years - I've perfected what I've learned from them.
A. A lot can be hidden in a hug.
B. Just avoid certain words.
So posting this to let you know -
I agree. And I'm not just letting it go. Except - the sexism has been outrageous too. That's an observation - not an attack on the community or any individuals - not even a call out. 
so many take one (out of context) passage of one speech, ignoring the preceding and following body of work, and claim to "color-blindness" as the ideal. 
What is worse is, when corrected, they disappear ... only to return with the same interpretation. 
as you are on most issues around here.
you're on a roll. 
back in the 60s and more recently. 
With that pointed out, however, it can also be said, that sadly, there *is* indeed a problem. There are indeed those people out there, many of them conservatives, who don't truly understand what MLK meant; many of these people are not racist and may not even be truly prejudiced. They merely lack the understanding of the context of his words. But, there's also some who do *actively* use such as an excuse to discount the real problems that People of Color do still face; and many of these people *are* bigots, whether outwardly or covertly.
I'm sure that many people will agree that there is a truly major, perhaps even polar, difference between the legitimate "focusing on one's character traits instead of their ethnicity"
while also acknowledging the struggles that People of Color do continue to face, and using this belief as a tool to help better the situations of all of us) type of colorblindness, and the false "oh, there's no racism anymore because no Jim Crow, black President, etc." conservajerk B.S. agitprop.
because it is too big of a business for all parties involved.
Just more divide and conquer as far as I'm concerned. 
