Colour-blind racism (1970- ), also known as aversive racism, is racism that acts as if skin colour does not matter – even when it does. It is the most common form of racism among white Americans who grew up after the fall of Jim Crow in the 1960s. It takes the place of Jim Crow racism, the meaner, more naked white racism common in the 1950s and before.
Political correctness and the idea of hate speech grew out of colour-blind racism. So did the welfare queen and model minority stereotypes. It helped to spread the word “African American”.
Colour-blind racists say things like this:
- It’s not race, it’s economics …
- It’s not race, it’s culture …
- It’s not race, it depends on a person’s background …
- I’m not prejudiced, but …
- I’m not black, but …
- One of my best friends is black.
- My cousin married a black man.
- I voted for Barack Obama.
- I don’t see you as black.
And believe things like this:
- I am not racist.
- Blacks are not willing to work hard.
- Blacks want everything handed to them.
- Blacks hold themselves back, not racism.
- Blacks are unfairly favoured, whites are not.
- Blacks do not want to live with us (or eat at our table).
- Blacks live in the past. They need to get over it and move on.
- Blacks need to pull themselves up from the bottom like everyone else.
- Blacks cry racism for everything even though they are the racist ones.
Notice how white people never seem to do anything bad.
While they would agree with most of those statements, they would have a hard time saying them straight out like that. Race makes them uncomfortable. Their statements would be more long-winded and watered down, throwing in phrases like those from the first list, even the one about the cousin.
They seem to think that if they do not say the words then racism will somehow go away by magic. As if racism is just a matter of words.
They rarely think of themselves as “white” and avoid saying the word “black” in public, even when they are thinking it. Their supposed colour-blindness is a front.
For example, I have heard white people talk about someone who I knew had to be black just by the way they bent over backwards to avoid saying the word “black”. Yet when they left the room and thought I could not hear, they said “black” just as plain as day, as if they were talking about their dress.
They avoid the word “race” too. Instead they use words like “culture”, “background”, “ethnicity”. That is why they like the word “African American” so much: it seems colour-blind.
They are not as mean or violent as Jim Crow racists, nor do they wear their racism well. Unlike Jim Crow racists, they are willing to vote for a black man for president. But they still look down on blacks and still believe the stereotypes, adding some of their own.
They are not as colour-blind as they think. The only colour they are truly blind to is white.
See also:
- colour-blind racism: the four frames
- Jim Crow racism
- How white people think
- Whites are still racist
- All whites are racist
- what this racism defends: white privilege
- what grew out of this sort of racism:
- African American – as a term
- stereotypes:
Abagond 
This is so true! The hypocrisy of mainstream America is unbelievable. For example, when Eric Lasalle complain about the lack of Black love on TV and movies, mainstream Americans were hopping mad at him. They said that he was against IRs(which isn’t true at all). All he wanted is a balance portrayal of Black romance. He wasn’t asking for the end of IRs like many hypocritical color-blind Apple Pie Americans, the same ones who would treat an IR couple horribly in a nanosecond and would look down on such relationships. The hypocrisy is unbelievable.
Steph
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Good example. The hypocrisy is such a clear feature of this sort of racism – say one thing but do another – that some call it hypocritical racism.
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Listen! people who are angered when the truth is told regarding racism are people who would prefer that things stay the same or even get worse. I have many white associates, who have told me to wake up and realize that white people are very intelligent they know that if this is brought out Black people will try to change things and they don’t want that. White people do not want blacks to have self pride they do not want black women to be respected and 99% of white homes has someone in it that calls black people niggers, but if blacks become angry enough that they unite as a people things will change too much for whites. I had one White women tell me to just think about it “why doesn’t your race see that when other races such as asians, indians or other cultures speak about the pride they have and how they maintain their heritage by marrying within their race and keeping up their culture (statistically) this is something looked upon as honorable, but if black people talk about staying together and uplifting their race, white people convince other blacks that this is wrong you should love whomever you want too” white people do this so that black people will not collectively gain knowledge of what culture and heritage is all about. Black people please wake up these are white people telling me that their race has figured out how to have a modern day form of conquer and divide and they know how to make us go along with it and they still keep in goodstanding in the eyes of the world …. WAKE UP!!! find documentries on “Eyes on the Prize” and this will tell you what white people feel about People of African legacy living in America, and remember white people instill this way of thinking on each generation of their people, so yes all whites are racist.
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I agree with you Ms Kay. Your comment is “right on the money.” White people have always beliefed Blacks don’t think for themselves and that Blacks believe everything they hear from Whites. It’s called “The Miseducation of the Negro.” Everytime I hear or see how Black men treat and disrepect the Black women and honor the White women it brings tears to my eyes. Why can’t we (Blacks) see what is really going on in America? Shame on us (Blacks)!!!! I will never disrepect Black men or women in order to justify why I date outside of my race. I love my people and I do and will continue to respect all people who deserve to be respected.
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Kay Love,
You are so right.
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Kay Love: good point about the double standard. Whites stick together far more than blacks do and have far more pride in their whiteness (though they never call it that), but no one seems to see this as threatening or wrong.
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Abagond,
That’s what I’m talking about. The hypocrisy of the mainstream is disgusting!
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My question to nonblacks is:
Why do you all disparage Blacks for sticking together when you all do the same thing?
Why do you tell Blacks to date/marry outside of the culture while you tell your sons and daughters not to date/marry one and move out of schools/neighborhoods when Blacks make over 5% of the population?
I want to know why because y’all espousing the double standard when it comes to us Blacks.
That’s the essence of color-blind racism to me.
La Reyna
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Is there a reason why you reject the stereotypes of some but then proclaim stereotypes regarding whites? Or deride the hypocrisy of others while engendering the same? Shameful.
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The “Bring Me Home a Black Girl” debate between Ms. Walsh and Ms. Edwards at Salon.com.
Ms. Audrey Edwards:
Ms. Walsh:
I read with great interest your critique of my article “Bring Me Home a Black Girl,” in the November issue of Essence. To begin with, the article never stated, nor have I ever told my son not to “date” white girls. He has always had a number of white friends, male and female alike; he has escorted white girls to proms, and continues to have friendships with whites now that he is in college. I have also dated white men, but married a black man, and want my son to marry a black girl. This to me is normal, natural and what people of all races, tribes, ethnic groups and nationalities have done for eons. To say that “no mainstream magazine today would publish a comparable piece by a Caucasian mom exhorting her son to ‘Bring me home a white girl!'” is a bit disingenuous, don’t you think? White moms don’t have to give such messages to their kids. It’s implicit in everything they do — from the neighborhoods they live in, to the schools and churches they attend, to the social organizations they belong to. Whites still live, for the most part, in a segregated white world, so it’s natural that their children will marry other whites. But just watch what happens when they don’t! You yourself admitted that most of the hostility to your interracial dating came from other whites, not blacks.
And this gets us to what I think is the real problem in how others have reacted to my piece. First, I don’t tell my son to marry a black girl because I think there is something inherently inferior or negative about white girls. I don’t tell him to marry black because I think black is superior to white. Yet these are the very arguments whites have historically had against marrying black, which is what makes those arguments racist. Laws against miscegenation were based on the premise that blacks are less than human, so no self-respecting white should marry one. I don’t teach my kid such racist crap. I simply want him to affirm his racial identity, which to me includes marrying someone of his race. Since when does affirming who you are mean denying someone else’s humanity? Just because that’s how Europeans have historically interacted doesn’t mean that’s where I’m coming from. And, frankly, I resent whites imposing that particular mind-set on me.
As I said in my article, if we were all playing on an equal field, people could be free to love and marry any and everyone, and probably would. But we all know the field remains quite tilted. Young black women complain that too many black men are marrying white girls (I won’t even go into how many of them called and wrote to thank me for speaking so straight about an issue they discuss constantly); too many black men are blinded by the light of white just because it’s white; and too many whites think that an article talking about affirming blackness means rejecting them. It doesn’t. It ain’t even about you at all!
Finally, how convenient that Randall Kennedy has my piece as a launching point to push his tome on “interracial intimacies.” I must say, though, “intimacies” is another one of those disingenuous terms that denies the real sexual history of blacks and whites in America. There was never much that was “intimate” about the rape and sexual violence that was perpetuated against black women by white men in this country for over three centuries. It is the major reason more black women do not seek the company of white men. (How many Jewish women do you know who seek the company of former Nazis?) Even the portrait Salon used to illustrate your piece — Ma and Pa Kettle updated for social relevance? — conveyed a stereotypical sexual image to me. I can’t imagine that the black woman pictured would willingly have chosen to be with that old geezer. But, hey, what do I know? I suppose this is someone’s idea of what interracial intimacy should look like these days.
The struggle continues.
This is a reply by Ms. Joan Walsh:
Ms. Edwards:
Please call me Joan.
I’m sorry if I misread your piece to include a prohibition against dating whites, when it only applied to marrying them. But the clarification disturbs me more. Telling your stepson he can “date” somebody white — I can only assume that’s a euphemism for “intimacy,” to return to Kennedy’s words, which is of course a euphemism for “sex,” but maybe you have a way of monitoring his dates to make sure they don’t go there — but not marry her is degrading. I guess that’s OK if both people know about it, but there’s a smell of sexual exploitation that gives me the creeps. Speaking as the mother of a white girl, I’d say please tell your stepson to lay off the white girls entirely if he can’t marry them. Again, if I told my son he could “date” black girls but not marry them, I’d be called out as a bigot, and I’d deserve it.
Just a few observations: Your assumption that white moms don’t need to indoctrinate their kids to date white because they live in alabaster suburbs, go to ivory schools and worship in ecru churches makes me wonder where you live. San Francisco, Ms. Edwards, is less than half white, and the city’s public schools — my daughter is in seventh grade — are only 28 percent white. We don’t go to a church — her dad’s Jewish — but the Catholic parish in my neighborhood, which I go to on the anniversaries of my parents’ deaths, is mostly Filipino and Latino. The monochromatic world you assume I live in doesn’t exist anymore, at least not for me, and not for most Californians — or city dwellers in most urban areas. We have to seek out sameness if we want it. If we do, we’re loathsome racists. And if we don’t — and I don’t — well, sometimes we’re chumps. Boys can date our daughters, but not marry them?
(continue)
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(continued)
And while I accept your claim that your prohibition against marrying someone white isn’t meant to communicate anything “inferior or negative” about whites, I’ve also gotta say that the reminder of white rape during slavery times would seem to stigmatize a generation of men who are at least 140 years removed from that crime, and link them to something awful, if not “inferior.” And comparing black women who date whites to Jews dating Nazis seems a little “negative.” But I’m done second-guessing your motives.
I know all this angst mystifies you. Why would white people care about this, when white people have so much? Well, I can only speak for myself, and my problem is, I took the message of the civil rights movement literally. I truly don’t believe, in a pluralistic society, that we can have rules that apply to one racial group and not others. I know that race and racism in America are complicated, and simple answers won’t always get us where we want to go. But the simple civil rights message – equality and justice, Dr. King’s beloved community — took us miles. The crabbed, angry, separatist message of the post-civil rights movement has set us back. If it’s wrong to allow one group to generalize and stereotype on the basis of race and to preach exclusion — as it was wrong for whites in the bad old days, and it remains wrong for whites today — it’s got to be wrong for all groups.
But I thank you for writing. Indeed, the struggle continues.
— Joan Walsh
_____________________________
More answers from Audrey Edwards, answering Ms. Walsh’s naivety and blindness to racism in IRs:
Ms. Edwards:
Hey Joan,
My letter to you was more of a rant than the kind of edited piece I would have submitted for publication. I spent some time in Los Angeles with my friend Bebe Moore Campbell, the novelist, and she said exactly what you did: “Audrey, telling your son it’s OK to date white girls, but not marry them, is worse than saying don’t date them.” I truly didn’t think about it like that, but now upon reflection, I understand how such a statement could sound.
As for whites living mostly white lives, I stand by that position. Most whites don’t live in major metropolitan areas such as San Francisco or New York. They inhabit that vast area in between, and even those in the cities still interact mainly with their own. I know that’s the case here in New York where most whites have never been to Harlem and most blacks have never been to the predominantly Italian area of Bensonhurst or the predominantly Russian area of Brighton in Brooklyn. I debated Randall Kennedy on NPR when my piece came out, and even he agreed that the expectations whites have of their children marrying other whites is an implied one based on where they live and with whom they have the most interactions. And while I can’t speak for San Francisco’s public schools, the public schools here are predominantly black and Hispanic. There are only two white children in the predominately white, middle-class building I live in Brooklyn who go to public school — the rest are in private, predominantly white schools.
But again, I stress that my position on black men marrying black women is strictly based on the dwindling numbers of “suitable” black men now available to black women and how black men choosing white women affects black women’s self-esteem. We still live in a society that exalts the white woman as the female to be desired. If we saw as many advertisements projecting the beauty of black, Asian and Hispanic women as we do white women, then this discussion would be moot, since men would be “programmed” to see that women of all races possess beauty. I can’t do anything about how other men and boys are programmed, but I can and will have a say in what my stepson learns to perceive as beautiful and desirable.
A final point, which I made on NPR: In the last episode of the season of “Sex and the City,” the character Charlotte had fallen in love with her Jewish lawyer. And he loved her back. However, he told her point-blank: “Charlotte, I have to marry a Jew.” She looked confused, so he repeated it. “Charlotte, I have to marry a Jew.” End of discussion. As far as I know, there was no outcry or charges of racism sent to HBO over this comment. Charlotte, the nice little WASP girl, was OK to sleep with, but not marry. It’s evidently OK for Jews to expect their sons to marry Jewish girls, but not OK for a black mother to expect her son to marry a black girl. Sounds suspiciously like one of those double standards to me.
You’re right. This debate could go on forever, but I’ve got to put a pin in it here, because I have two magazine pieces to get to. But I do thank you for taking the time to listen.
— Audrey
Ms. Walsh’s reply:
Audrey,
And I appreciate your grappling with my point of view. Since I think “Sex and the City” depicts the mating behavior of scary, self-destructive neurotics, I didn’t see that episode as an endorsement of Jews doing what Charlotte’s hairy-backed beau did — but I agree, Jews tend to get a pass on this. I’m an incorrigible mixer, so I don’t think anybody should be preaching against intermarriage — especially if they’re dating outside their race or religion. But I respect your right to think about this and raise your children differently — and I appreciate your openness to my critique. The struggle continues, but let’s put this one behind us.
— Joan
___________________________________
For further reading, please read Salon’s article:
http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/02/05/mixed/index.html
What say you?
Stephanie B.
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Wow. Thanks.
I agree that telling your son that it is fine to date white women but not to marry them is wrong. It is called using women.
On the other hand, I think wanting your son to marry within in your race is pretty natural, especially if you live in a country where your race is outnumbered. It is hard for me to call that racist, even though strictly speaking maybe it is.
In terms of white people, I see nothing wrong with them marrying each other in so far as they have more in common and feel more comfortable with each other. That is natural.
Where it becomes racist is where they do not want to marry black because they think being black is something shameful or terrible, like missing an arm, something they do not want their children to be.
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Interesting article. Most articles you write are interesting but I think you simplify a lot of issues. Still, I commend you for talking about such sensitive issues.
I think most of what you say here is true, but I don’t think it applies to everyone. I think you’ve mentioned this before, but the older generation has much more “color blind racism” than generation Y. I’m white, and I see my mother and people around me use “African-American” pretty often and I just want to laugh inside. But I’m starting to hear this less and less among the younger crowd.
I don’t think it’s only because younger people are less racist than older people. I think it’s because white people in general are born with the inherant guilt of their past mistakes. Even before white people are taught about their history, slavery, colonialism, and imperialism, they are born with an inherant sense of white guilt. It’s a collective feeling and it’s very difficult to escape. But I think the more time goes back, the less white people feel any connection to “those white people who organize the slave trade” and therefore don’t feel the white guilt as strongly. This is why you see more and more white people say “black” instead of “African-American.”
I think that people who use terms like that are more racist than those who just say “black.” I think it’s because they learned to pair the idea of “blackness” with negative stereotypes. So in their minds it’s “bad” to be “black.” But hey, that person’s not black, he’s “African-American.” It suddenly allows them to close their eyes on the skin color and all of the priviledges that come with their own skin color. Notice most white people don’t call themselves white but “Caucasian.” It’s another form of color-blindness.
People tell me I’m very politically incorrect. I often make generalizations about all kinds of races and cultures, yet none of it is done from a place of hostility. Other people may not know this, but I do, because I know my heart. I may be a person who upholds certain stereotypes (“asians play chess well” “black people talk louder than white people” “white people are usually blind to their own racism”) but I’m not afraid to talk about it because I’m not scared to face the issue. White people hate it when Black people “take out the race card” but it’s only because they don’t want to admit to their own priviledge.
So hell on those who call me racist, because the truth is, it’s those politically correct white folk that are. The truth is, they don’t know squat about Black history, modern Black issues, African geography and politics, and I can go on. They don’t want to know, because as soon as they are forced to think about it, it conjures negative and uncomfortable emotions. They don’t want to admit racism is still a problem in the USA and they don’t want to let go of their white priviledge. It makes me sick to the stomach when I hear white people say, “black people should date ouside of their race.” Why, so they could lose their identity, lose their culture? You want them to assimilate in your stupid white american culture so well that you no longer have to deal with interracial issues?
Maybe it’s because I’m Jewish that I feel slightly differnet about this issue than most white people do. My people and Black people have gone through hell since the beginning of time. I know that a shitload of people are still anti-semitic and yet they’d never say it to my face. I can crack a stereotypical jewish joke and they’d be too afraid to laugh along, for fear of offending me. Yet when I turn my back they can say something about Jewish people being money obsessed or what-not. That’s North America for you. “Tolerant.” Bull.
Anyway, thanks for the awesome site. Keep it up.
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Thanks. I do hope Generation Y is less racist, or at least more open and less blind about it. That alone would be a start.
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I just discovered abagond’s blogs w/ commentary, and have spent several hours of good reading. Thanks, everyone.
One response to Roxy’s comments on the term “African-American”. The comments were ahistorical and therefore unnecessarily caustic. In the late 1980s it was an African-American academic who suggested the shift from “black” to “African-American”.
The idea was that “black” was inherently potentially a source of racism, since it suggests an entire category of people is “essentially” qualitatively different from “whites”, and therefore in some ways permanently alien. Roxy might be familiar with tht — plenty of times I’ve had to sit while listening to Jewish Americans go on at length about the “Schwartzers” (Yiddish for “Black”). And it was not with any gentle or generous intent that people were referred to as “blacks”.
In contrast, at least as it was introduced and adopted, “African-American” emphasized the historical trajectory of a group. Both that there was a distinctive, non-North American ancestry, AND that “African-Americans” are as American as anybody else. It makes a claim to be included as a citizen of the nation.
White racism continues to operate because claims to whiteness still generate real privilege when compared to people who are categorized as “black”.
Whites assume they have the right to have access to whatever goods and services they want before any blacks should have access to them.
Making this assumption is part of what it means to “be” white. For immigrants, part of becoming an “American” is to become “white,” and a key part of that is to accept and enact this sort of racism.
The vast majority of white people harbor these sentiments, even though they are most often unconscioues. The attitudes only come to consciousness when a challenge to them arouses fury.
While the expression of this arrogation of hierarchy has softened in the years since WWII, the underlying assumption of preference is still strong.
For that reason I use the metaphor of a virus. Every white person in America has been exposed to the virus. Only very few fail to become infected. Some carry it only in a latent form, where it is not expressed except in moments of weakness or stress. Some are aware they are sick, and actively seek treatments to prevent an outbreak. Some show a few light symptoms all the time, and and are uncomfortable with them, but try to ignore them. Others have a bad case of it, but are so used to it they don’t even recognize the symptoms of the disease. Finally, a few are so sick they are very contagious and an immediate danger to others.
This viral racism is transmitted as easily through use of the word “black” as through “the n word”. The goal of “African-American” was to break that up. It may or may not have been as successful as was intended, but that was the goal. To blithely establish a hierarchy of “who’s more racist than whom” on the basis of a single phrase is uninformed and misguided.
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That is an interesting idea – viral racism.
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you sir are an idiot. good to see you know exactly what white folk think. not saying were all perfect and yea there are racists but u just come across as judging the majority of white people to be the same.
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I am no mind reader, true, but I have lived in America long enough to know that most white people there (though not all) are a certain way about race.
Some of my posts on racism are based more on my personal experience, but this one, as it turns out, is backed up by research. See the work of Eduardo Bonilla-Silva.
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I was watching yesterday a Stevie Wonder Video and I thought to myself…. how could a blind person see racism…. how could one explain it to him? It is all just superficial things. Maybe we need to be blind on somethings to see what’s underlaying and importing….
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??? — “All white Americans are racist. The truth is you cannot grow up in America without becoming racist – no matter what colour your skin is. Blacks are racist too.”
get over your self’s ya its harder to get a job and some people are aspholes but the USA is more fair today then it has ever been if you get off your asp and try you would know this but no you’d rather prove this right
* Blacks are not willing to work hard.
* Blacks want everything handed to them.
* Blacks hold themselves back, not racism.
* Blacks live in the past. They need to get over it and move on.
* Blacks need to pull themselves up from the bottom like everyone else.
* Blacks cry racism for everything even though they are the racist ones.
life is not fair for anyone get over it!
make it better- complaining about it dos not help any one !
although a lot of white people are pricks (race should not matter -i have met a even number of black pricks-) what would you have them do hand you stuff? treat you like kings ? hand the world to you ?–get real
the USA is trying to get away from racism -one way people do it is pretend it dos not exist – and try to treat all people fairly -then you hear “im black and my family if you go back far anof was beaten by your family – you should hand me stuff”
by this logic everyone is racist – whites for not giving a @@@ – and us blacks for expecting them to!
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Huge progress has been made and trying not to see race is good, but with many whites it becomes a blindness to what racism they still have. It gets in the way of further progress.
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I am against the racist. I think everyone should be treated the same. We are all God’s children and if you read the Bible it says nothing about race. Why can’t everyone else be like that?
What happened in the past is in the past. Don’t ruin today by worrying about yesterday’s problems and yea I know that somethings need to be recovered and need to be controled. Honestly there is nothing that we can do and the whole world is not going to listen to just one person.
I’m in a situation with my family right now because of racist. I’m A Romanian girl who will be 19 that was adoped by a Family of Italians. I’m dating a black guy who will be 20 and my family is against it 100% and I truly don’t like it.
I was adopted when I was 7 months old so this family is basically my real family because they’re all I know just not by blood because they have been there for me no matter what and treated me like there own. My parents are so racist and ol’ school it’s not even funny! I don’t know what to do.
I love my boyfriend and we’ve been together for 9 months and been through alot in such little time. My boyfriend treats me right and doesn’t go asking me for sex and is not with me for only one thing. My boyfriend and I are always together or we’re on the phone together. I’ve known him in high school and I know his ex-girlfriend and I’m second girl he has been with in his life.
Because he is black doesn’t mean he is bad in every way shape or form or goes and sleeps around or does illegal things. My parents didn’t care so much when we we’re friends then when our feelings got stronger and he asked me out. Now my parents hate him and trys to find every little thing and fill my head up with lies.
I’m in school and I’m looking for a part-time job. My boyfriend is a Navy man that is in the reserve. He’s in school and is workin part-time. Both of us has a good head on our shoulders and wants what is best for ourselves. We’re going into medicial school and becoming doctors in the near futur.
I need to make my own choices but my parents are making them for me and I hate it! All I’m worryin about is my education and my future and my parents say that my boyfriend is going to bring me down.
Has anyone been through anything like this or similar to this? Does anyone have any suggestions what to do or something? All I do is sit down and talk to my parents but it ends up in an argument.
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If you live under your parents’ roof then they will probably continue to give you hell about it. I cannot see them changing their minds about such things at their age.
I do not know how it is in Italy, but in America at 18 you start living your own life and make your own mistakes. Your parents can offer advice but they cannot make you do anything, especially if you live on your own.
The sad thing is your parents love you and have the wisdom of their years and yet all that is clouded by their racism. You have to somehow separate what is racist from what is not. Your parents may hate him because he is black but he could still be completely wrong for you.
Your life is yours not theirs. In the end you have to follow your own road, with or without their help.
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people sound stupid when they say “get over it, whats in the past is in the past”.
the problem with that, is that whites can “get over it” and even commit the same acts again, only slightly different..and call it something else.
but how can blacks “get over” something that still strongly affects them?
sometimes you cant help but wonder…had whites done segregation properly, would things be better?
it seems like things could be better…but whites have to be the first to take the step..they are the majority.
i really wish i could go visit other countries and see how things are there…
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While I do see myself as raceless (I mean, why wouldn’t I?), I do think being colour-blind helps white people- and white people only. I don’t know why saying “black” or “white” is that problematic. I know people are fed up with political correctness and most of (white people) don’t even know what words are okay to say… But seeing yourself as “neutral”, “normal” and “individual” just because you are white is not a good thing.
Also, just because you don’t see your race as something important about yourself, it doesn’t mean people of other races think the same. I am not saying it should be important, but the fact “race” exist (and it’s a social, not biological concept), shows it is still something important.
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In America race is just as important to whites as it is to blacks, but most whites do not see this because they do not honestly face how race shapes their lives. Partly because they do not have to, partly because they do not want to.
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Interesting. For some reason, I thought it’s more about what’s “default and normal” vs “different and exotic”. I thought white people don’t see themselves as white, or member of a particular race- until they’re faced with people of another race, who is, well, “different”. So even without any prejudice or open racism (associating black people with bad things), the idea you see someone as “different” as opposite to “default and normal” makes that person unequal in your eyes. And you know why you see this person as different (because of his race- his, not yours!), but you don’t even want to talk about it, because, well, you want to believe you’re colour blind.
I guess it’s more than that.
Do these people even spend some time in groups where they’re minority? Do they generally feel “awkward” when they’re the only white person in a room? Do they notice? If they do notice, then they’re not colour blind.
Well, I do believe people don’t care much about things that don’t affect them (them personally or their group). If there’s a way to make white people believe being racist is bad for them, they would be more eager to change and really become anti racists.
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Mira:
Right, unlike blacks, whites do not have to think about race much because it does not affect them directly in a bad way. On top of that there are self-serving reasons NOT to think about it too deeply.
And, like you said, there is also the ethnocentric thing going on of “normal” and “different”. But with many whites it seems like “different” means “messed up”. If you are not just like them there is something wrong with you. THAT goes beyond plain old ethnocentrism and into racism.
You should read this post if you have not already:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/growing-up-white/
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I already read it, but I’ll post my comment now. I’ll try to think about my own experience (growing up white in all white country) and see if some things are similar to patter described in the article. And of course there are differences.
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Spot on, Abagond!
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http://undercover4liberty.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-lies-of-the-klanocrats-2/
http://undercover4liberty.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/the-democratic-partys-lie-about-racism/
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“Colour-blind racism.” Kinda like “peaceful war.”
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“White people have always beliefed Blacks don’t think for themselves and that Blacks believe everything they hear from Whites.”
That statement sounds pretty racist to me. Way to generalize all whites.
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I got a couple examples of color-blind racism.
1. Went to a bar with my friend who is white and female. She makes a remark about how the quality of the area we were in had really gone down. I asked her why do you think that is? She said…well the bus line now goes through the inner city and alot of the people who come here tend to go rambunctious.
note: the inner city is where most of the blacks in that city live, it’s predominately black.
So, I noticed immediately how she didn’t use the word “black” but that is pretty much what she was saying. The black people have come in and destroyed our white haven. thats pretty much what she said.
Now, i’m one of her only black friends, or one of the only bp she associates with, so I am beginning to believe that as my friends get older they’re becoming more racist and I’m merely the token black in the group. I’ve come to realize this.
Also note after the moment that she said this a young black woman and her son walked by us and they were well-behaved, calm, they weren’t acting crazy. So, I believe her assertion mainly stems from racist stereotypes that she has been taught. How could she make a comment like that when there are two example right in her face that disprove that assumption?
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2. I am at college, going to the grocery store. I am waiting for the school bus to come and pick us up from the stop. There are alot of black people around, I’m black. I notice two ww who go to my college waiting for the bus as well. One of the ww makes the comment ” I hope the bus comes soon, I’m getting kinda nervous” the other ww response “yeah, this is the type of place where if I had my car I would need to club lock it.”
Now, mind you we were waiting outside a mall at christmas time. there were alot of black mothers with their children. There were people shopping for christmas gifts, just alot of bp. It was calm, orderly and I felt quite safe waiting there. But for some reason, these two white females from my predominately white college did not.
Now what would make them feel insecure in an area with mostly women and children, santa clause and people shopping in well-lit areas? The only thing that I could deduce was that being around bp automatically made the area unsafe to them. Doesn’t matter how calm/orderly things were, them just being black was enough to incite fear in them.
That’s another example of color-blind racism. when i heard their comments, I almost coulnd’t believe I was hearing it, that is how racist it sounded to me. But to them, I’m willing to bet, they didn’t think anything of it. They probably didn’t even realize they were being racist by associate violence/fear with black people…that is color blind racism.
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@peanut
I’m not black, but I believe because I’m not black that I’ve been inside the White Chamber. Here’s a few examples:
1)
I was at Washington, D.C. for the first time in my life. We got sort of lost so we asked a white person for directions. Now, we were in a well-off upper-middle class subdivision, and this white guy doing yardwork was probably a homeowner but what he said shocked me: Be careful not to go to the dangerous parts of D.C. like downtown because there’s a lot of dangerous black guys there.
2)
At our hotel, we conversed with a nice Hispanic cleaning lady. She gave us a lot of good advice about the area, but she also basically said the same thing the white guy had told us: Be careful not go out alone or to the dangerous areas in D.C. because there’s a lot of criminal black guys out to get you.
3)
I was with a group of other young people who also had come to tour D.C. One of the girls remarked that at one point, she was afraid because she and her mother were alone and there were these two black guys nearby and she and her mother thought that those guys were about to rape them.
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biased much?
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this is great site because it gives you all he oppertunity to blast your racist ideas regarding white people.oh by the way.you are azzholes.if a white person asked any of you if you happend know of a predominantly white city he and his family could move to,you’d call him racist.but if a black person asked any of you,if you knew of a nice primarily african american area him and his family could move to any of you would oblige him with some great info..trust me..i know posters like you.just as racist as they come.
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i take it your black.. hahah, all concerned over black race policies.. (i could be wrong.. just thought id start with a joke) i know one of my own.. in a free country, technically speaking the civil rights laws are unjust.. laws shouldnt be made special to protect certain groups of people to make them superior, like gay hating laws.. why should someone go to jail longer because they beat up a gay guy… anyway even more unjust were the Jim Crow laws.. people shoud be allowed to be racist if they like.. its better then it boiling over like it did in the 60s70s usa.
Well you have Indian reservations living in segregation still on there free will… in fact they have there own Jim Crow laws saying anything other then an Indian from the band cant move there unless they vote you in.. if that aint racist policies i don’t know what is.
yah anyway im white.. i have 0 black friends except some weirdo on the internet.. it sucks.. i got no black friends im allowed to say nigga to.. ah well maybe someday.
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oh by the way.you are azzholes.
Coming from you that is a compliment! You are a right regular chucklethon!
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hernieth–chucklethon? you watch too much tv..99% of these posters are white bashers here .they’re all calling the kettle black(no pun intended) and by doing so are all the racists they so adamantly talk against./if i supported an article by beginning with “all black people…or “black people thnk”…. i’d be called a racist.you posters seem to believe you’re the exception to the rules.you’re no different than any other racist in the country./personally,i don’t have to deal with blacks or hispanics on a daily basis,as i choose white flight.see,you’ll find that the areas in which whites and blacks and hispanics live right next door to one another ,as in a “we are the world” video,are regional specific./mostly some of your southern states.apart form those areas,in most states you’ll find that you have the white areas of the cities and the black ares and of course the hispanic,etc..ie,segregated.this is common..and normal.in fact many states are only 1 maybe 2% black and or hispanic..did you know that? start checking out the population demographics in the midwesrtern states/. i moved from a large city that’s predominantly black and hispanic, to a small rural community that’s only got 14,000 population,predominantly white and no apartments,no bus line and it’s a dry community as well./the only crime that ever occurs here is rare and is due to a ghetto community about 8 miles down the road.5 robbery attempts in a year here,months apart from each other/. each time the culprits were caught it turns out they drove in to town from a ghetto community about 8 miles down the road ,parked in the walmart parking lot and each one tried to rob a customer coming out of the store./each occurence was after midnight//.fewer people around to see them attempt their crime after 10pm/.each of these guys live in the same ghetto town down the road./a person has to live life and make decisions based on his/her own experiences./if a whiter community means less crime,friendlier people,then that’s where i’m gonna be livin’./you rarely ever even hear a boomcar in this town/.people don’t hang out in their cars and blast their neighbors with crap and hip hop music day OR night./i love this place and in this place i’ll stay.btw,i don’t choose where i live to be diverse./that’s not why a person relocates anyway as far as i know/and .i don’t date who’m i choose to date to be diverse./i choose to live where i live and date who’m i date based on comfortability/.not diversity/.if a person wants to live in a large predominant city for reasons of diversity so be it..if they choose who they date based on being diverse so be it..it just ain’t me.
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someone is A LITTLE biased, when writing this article.
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Of course…it can’t be that the in question have been acting biased for the past 50 years or so, even after they supposedly “got their act together”…nope, it has to be that Abagond is biased.
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no one can do anything right, we all need to work to smash the myth of the majority everywhere, Blacks and whites are both racists tword chinese and latin americans, white aginst red, aginst black aginst homo aginst black women aginst white men aginst aginst aginst, this is the same backwards mentality Dr. King was trying to correct. get over it move on and love thy neighbor even if they are not outwardly the same as you, anger very rarely solves anything.
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Race in America. This subject is akin to Alice falling down the rabbit hole and finding out Wonderland is not exactly what she expected. My philosophy on race is while a powerful artificial construct, it more about how individual people develop their perspective.
Simply put, I have concluded that most people interpet their world through what they see, added to what they’ve experienced and what they’ve been taught/socialized (for better or worse). But, the most important thing that i did not add was “exposure” when we are exposed to varied situations and people we hopefully grow in our judgement and perceptions for the better and hopefully act and behave in the best interest of ourselves and others. But, when a person lacks this exposure to people of different races it is like having flawed vision, they fail to possess an additional “filter” that as they literally view situations or have encounters with another race in life and process the experience they are NOT able to reach a reasonable conclusion about other races, but not narrow-minded sterotypical biases. If someone in their early stages of development with the greater world has limited exposure to other races, I feel they suffer in understanding the greater collective. They have no filter (awareness) regarding other races and fall back on and cling to and find it acceptable to believe “these people” are some bastardized composite of what they have seen in televised sterotypes, media stories without deeper context or from ignorant people whose opinion and judgement they trust, which surplants thier own and further spreads this ignorance to the detrement of all. These individuals are left with no ability to interact with another race because they fail to “see other plights or experiences through their eyes” i.e. you don’t know someone plight til you walk in thier shoes. Which is an experience the average white person in Americans will never understand or truly relate to no matter how hard they try. But, instead of these suedo dialogues on race, non-blacks need to realize that in situations where they have rarely, if ever interacted with non-whites in a serious and substantive way, they are ill prepared to truly “get” where non-whites are coming from. So, if you have had the all-white experience through your life and developmental years, as an adult it is a little late to realize that you may or may not be able to continue to control real-life situation that await you, like being confronted with dealing with non-whites, say in an ever diverse work environment, educational settings like college or even better at the local market or just clutching your hand-bag involuntarily as you see a black man approaching on your side of the sidewalk, whatever time of day it is.
As time progresses and the world becomes more global, we (Americans) still are very unevolved, provincial, sad pathetic beings. We are comfortable with people who look like us, because we don’t have to stretch ourselves in that that awkward way with people we may have nothing in common with except we work, shop, eat or pray in the same zip code-occassionally. Racialism does breakdown to tribalism STILL. Definitely in America, mainly as most students of true history know, American did a marvelous sales job of the principles of freedom and egalitarinaism, but it was what the founders of this country did’t show you when they were performing this majic trick to our amazement. They started a revolution that wasn’t one. How? Simply, answer this question did colonial America’s structure change significantly after the American Revolution? Despite all of the simple belief that it had, it did not. Rich powerful white landowners started the revolution, the masses fought for their percieved religious and personal freedoms and thousands died for it, and rich white land-owners still held the power, wealth and status after said revolution. So, again what was the trick? Making a territory of people fight and die in a war for personal freedoms, so that the educated aristocrats could gain economic freedom by calling it a revolution. Previous to that in many European revolutions, the very social, political, economic structure of the nation, country or territory changed to where it was distinctly different than before.
So, as we start at the true birth of our nation we see that out of all of the “-isms” that exist we still miss many of the inherent tricks that still baffle us in Modern America. Most importantly this one, capitalism. Which has given birth to racism, but more than that another missed creation, which has slowly and insideously divided people world-wide: classism-the systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class groups. Thesis: In America, wealthy whites don’t care about colour, they care about whether they have to share their wealth and staus as the dominant group in the society. In every nation’s development, there has been that great word we all learned in grammar school “intermingling” of the indiginous people, with conquerors or immigrants. So while every nation has had it’s struggle, violent and protracted at times of the acceptance of various racial groups and full-citizens. More, importantly, what the dominat group never wants is to cede is economic power, because they then would be revereted to the unwashed masses devoid of power-never that. But, never forget that with economic power comes political power, so as to ensure the laws and the interpretation of those laws favor assisting those with wealth, and ensuring that they will retain that wealth. But, alas most of us want to rise to our riches and sloth off our humanity, why because deep down we know the rat race is over and the rats have won, so let me grab mine with gusto and both hand before I die-it is the stark reality of this mortal coil.
So get rich or die try, huh? Race is an issue for the common flawed man, the elite are truly colour blind because all they care about is wealth, greed and oppressing, and rather enslaving the masses to remain fodder/fuel in their great economic machine called America. So, while regular racial groups in American intellectually fail to debate an artifical construct, and evetually realizing it needs to be woefully abandoneddue to it not serving the best interest of our nation. The common people will forever be blinded, by their own hand to the true trick that is being played on them. Unfortunately, for many of us we would rather blindly go to the slaughter heads bowed, unaware that in each rail car are members of every race also being lead to the slaughter, than simply have the courage to peer behind the curtain at the great OZ and expose the lie. Or better yet as the character Cyber from the film the Matrix said as he betrayed Neo and the others, screaming he would rather return to the Matrix and live a lie, “Ignorance is bliss”.
So sadly is our ignorance of race?
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Abagond:
Colorblind racism is the most destructive of the three because it’s hidden from the naked eye. Black folk who are not educated, fall into the trap. As black people, we need to realize that “Black Versus” is a reality on this planet, and will be for a long time. We focus most of our anger on white folk, but, everybody has beef with us in some shape, form, or fashion. Envy is the root cause of the problem. People of other races have beef with us because we’re black and they’re not. It’s about them, not us. We’ve been spoonfed the lie that we’re the problem, Hell No! Whenever the opportunity to exploit african people pops up, the same pattern repeats itself. We need to know why others think and act as they do, otherwise, our race will continue to be the mules of the planet. Are all whites racist? It’s hard to say if that’s the case, but, all whites pretty much try to dictate to black people how they should view their blackness and humanity. In my honest opinion, whites and others will be forever miserable. Blackness or the lack thereof is the “Elephant In The Room” that everybody avoids talking about, but, it must be dealt with. I believe in getting “2 Tha Point” as it relates to race relations. Why waste time talking about whiteness and asianness, when blackness is the primary issue?
Tyrone
MindScape
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i’m form south africa were there was apartheid although they say there is no racism there is probably more than before. the ony people you can find living in a township is the black people no one else all the non-blacks live in the nice houses an in the nice areas. lets just face it black people and white people will never have peace. blacks and africans will always be inferior to whites except if a nother MLKJ wakes up.
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Color blind racisim? Really? I’m white–I come from an underprivalidged family. I’ve had one hell of a life and have had my fair share of demons to overcome, all because of where I come from. I’ve never let any of that hold me back–even when most of the positions I’m currently looking for ask me my race, and say they are only open to “minority” races. This idea of the over privalidged white is ridiculous–where are my privalidges? Why can’t I compete for a position because of MY skin color? Did I ask to be white, or did anyone else ask to be their skin color? Shouldn’t our actions mean more than our colors?
I think being color blind is a good idea–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was one of the first ones to propose it, after all. It doesn’t mean we have to ignore our cultural diffrences. After years in the military, I’ve seen a few cultures other than my own. Racisim isn’t one way: I know what it’s like to be put down by other races because of my color. My brother and sister were both beaten up pretty badly when we were growing up, too–it was because they were white and had to go to school in a predominantly black school.
Why can’t we accept that we are all different but are equally human? Someone on here commented that we tell our sons and daughters to marry only whites–that’s not true. I’m sure some families are like that–but every race and group has some families that are that way. I know that from personal experience, too. It goes both ways. As far as having non-white neighbors, most people don’t care. Most people just want good neighbors. I’m sure there are still those people out there who don’t fall into that, but like I said, every group and every race has people like that. Races can have peace when we all realize that we are all human. I’ve had a lot of negative experiences with different people from different races–but I’ve had a lot of good experiences with people from different races, too. We are different, but why can’t that be okay? When we can put our past negative experiences of each other in the past, and accept people for who they are–people–then we can have peace. Culture is important to us all. Culture is a huge part of my life, and no one can take that away. Many different races have very differently cultural values than I do–and I think that’s a cause of some of the racial tension we have today. . . but if we start to look at people in the context of their cultures and realize some of the things they do doesn’t jive with us because we come from different frames of refrence, then that will help open our minds and help ease some of the bias that life teaches us. For example, I was raised to believe playing loud music and talking loudly are rude. In other cultures, that’s normal. Realizing that allows me to see people not in the context of race, but in the context of culture–just like if I were in a different country I would expect people to act differently and in accordance to a different set of values. It doesn’t mean that they are bad–they are just different, which is okay. If that’s color blind racisim, then I don’t agree that that is a bad thing. When I see a black person, I don’t think of the people who beat up my brother and sister. I don’t think of some of the other situations I’ve been in. Just because people are the same color doesn’t mean they are the same people. That’s what this whole color-blind thing is about. How is that bad? If you ask me, it’s good.
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I am genuinely unaware of the race, hair color, sex, or distinguishing features of anyone in the room with me, until close examination. I see bunches, and don’t distinguish between them. I have apparently been in all black movie theaters without noticing I was the only white person there. I’m tall — I think I noticed their heights — and knew there were families there, children, but I didn’t see anything else. My brother insisted I was surrounded.
I am people blind. My only saving grace is to see blunt objects. I once did, intently notice the race of two women, but it was because they were walking hand in hand with fierce expressions and a baseball bat apiece, in a run down area. (It was the baseball bat) Shortly after that, and gentlemen came right up and introduced himself as a recent prison graduate. I thought that if they were that worried, I should be worried too.
My mother did exercises with me as a child, where she’d point to people and ask me to identify differences. I come up real short. White people with tan skin seemed to have the same color skin as “black” people. And some of them had really curly hair too. If someone was a very deep shiny lustre, I’d notice. I liked the way the sun gleamed off their skin. But I’d also stare at albinos. And people with skin conditions.
When it was beat into my head that there apparently were differences, I said I wanted to marry a black man because their skin was so much more alive.
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everything’s offensive Black, african american blah blah blah etc I call them high content melanin skin displayers and us whites are low content that way everyone is happy. It turns out some “white” people are high displayers as well so the race lines get blurred and everyone is confused…I like it better that way
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If you are white you are racist: that is what I got out of this. perhaps people should not say such things unless you are willing to produce a solution. besides people are fundamentally the same .
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Thank I had never thought of it that way. I have most certainly used several of those phrases in but I don’t believe any of those things though.
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Some of you might like to take good look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_discrimination
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Agabond implies a tempering of hypocrisy through diunital thought: https://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/diunital-cognition/. The implication is that a white person can be both a color-blind racist in some ways at some times, and also show non-racist empathy as a person.
People live consciously in some ways and in other ways lives unconsciously. Let’s point out where we need to be more conscious and, if a person is trying to become more open minded, be a little more gracious about the places where he or she is currently unconscious.
I like the idea of keeping Agabond’s suggested diunital view when it comes to racist/non-racist, conscious/unconscious tendencies, which I think are universal. But it was Vernon J. Dixon, a Black professor at Princeton, who talked about diunital view much more fully in his book Beyond Black or White.
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What is the necessity in claiming what the author is writing is what you believe that his or her message signifies? Why do White people always feel the need to project their opinions of others and their viewpoints onto those same individuals and think that they should be given credence? This mentality of White people is very evident in the comment section– and, as usual, they fail to realize it or do not give a rat’s donkey to.
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The only colour I see is green!
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“We don’t want your color blindness, we need you to see color because there’s too much happening in your blind spots.”
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