Comments on: Cruz Wears the Colorblind Coat Best

By: Lindsay Auerbach

Lindsay Auerbach — Wed, 04 May 2016 23:17:52 +0000

This is something that I often think about as well. I wonder if and how Cruz would be perceived differently if Trump wasn’t in the picture. I think that a lot of the troubling things that Cruz says go completely unrecognized because, as you mentioned, his hatred is not as overt as Trump’s.

Now that Cruz has removed himself from the race, it’s important to remain aware of what he said and how it went under the radar. We’re going to be seeing a lot more of Donald Trump in the next year (unfortunately), and while his outward bigotry is extremely troubling, hopefully his campaign doesn’t push people further into misunderstandings about the way that racism functions as an implicit narrative in our country.

By: Jen Beck

Jen Beck — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 15:50:49 +0000

Being distracted with Donald Trump’s theatrics, I had never noticed this before. I’m incredibly glad that you’ve pointed this out. It’s good to be aware when colorblind strategies are creeping in. The fact that I hadn’t detected it scares me, and the fact that I hadn’t even thought on it scares me more.
This was very insightful, and it draws attention to something very important that has taken a backseat to craziness.
The question now is, how do we deal with something so invisible?

By: Anna Robinson

Anna Robinson — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:26:47 +0000

This has something I have been very concerned about as well. Donald Trump is furthering the understanding of racism as overt and obvious commentary which, while it may help the American public realize that racism is not over, does not help push the understanding that it comes in many nuanced levels – often undetectable at first. I wonder how the American people could be better trained or made more aware of the ways in which people can be racist without seeming racist? Pre-K crash course in Bonilla-Silva?

By: Joe Rorem

Joe Rorem — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 01:57:15 +0000

My instinct would be to say absolutely, Cruz’s colorblind rhetoric would make him more dangerous. After all, wouldn’t we ferret out the overtly racist among us and kick their candidacies to the curb? However, Trump’s continued popularity shows us, in a horrifying twist, that that simply isn’t happening.

This post is insightful. I’m glad to see some of this focused on Cruz. Piggybacking off of you, I think it’s important to think about how colorblind rhetoric appeals to the Jacksonian “common man” (read: White man) in the same way that overt speech does. Cruz has also rallied angry Whites who feel “threatened” by the rise of egalitarian values. His way of doing it has been quieter, less comical, but scary nonetheless. That’s why I’m more afraid of him than Donny T.