colorblind ideology

Cruz Wears the Colorblind Coat Best

by

The mockery and hatred in the 2016 Presidential Election has undoubtedly been pointed at Donald Trump, as far as the Republican party goes. His overtly sexist, racist com ments constantly appear in the news. While I do agree that Trump’s proposed policies and statements have been extremely problematic, the candidate who actually scares me the most is Ted Cruz. Cruz’s ideas and statements are just as racist and sexist as Trump’s; they are just covered …

Read more

Thoughts on Color-Consciousness

by

Originally published March 17, 2014 The recent literature in social psychology and other disciplines is clear: colorblind racial ideology is a harmful way of viewing the world. By ignoring both the material disadvantages faced by people of color and the implicit racial biases that influence decision-making, subscribing to colorblind racial ideology leads people to ignore the realities of racism in modern America and thus oppose policies that would address racial inequalities. In a recent class, …

Read more

Are We Beginning to Chip Away at Mass Incarceration? An Example from New York State

by

Last week, our class discussed mass incarceration, the system by which a vastly disproportionate amount of people of color are imprisoned for the use or distribution of illegal drugs. The situation is quite bleak; the system has been escalating for the past few decades and has wreaked havoc among communities of lower class people of color. Nevertheless, there may in fact be a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout the country, …

Read more

Institutional Racism on college campuses: I, too, am Harvard

by

  http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/21-black-harvard-students-share-their-experiences-through-a The article above was introduced to me recently by one of my friends. While I was going to write about something different this week, this article captured me. Entitled “I, too, am Harvard” you see a preview of a photo project from 21 students of color who attend Harvard university. Each is holding a black dry erase board which dons a common phrase that they often hear and has in some way effected …

Read more

Paul Ryan and Cultural Racism

by

Paul Ryan has recently been lambasted for his comments on inner city poverty and Black culture. While many in the media and blogosphere have picked up on his racism, I found his comments to be particularly illustrative of colorblind ideology. I pulled this quote from ThinkProgress: “House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) previewed his upcoming legislative proposals for reforming America’s poverty programs during an appearance on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America Wednesday, hinting that he would focus …

Read more

I’m not racist but…

by

http://thoughtcatalog.com/anonymous/2014/01/im-not-racist-im-just-not-attracted-to-black-men/ This a link to an article written by a white gay man explaining why on his Grindr profile he has selected the options “white whites only”. In this article he uses a lot of color blind rhetoric. He talks about how he has black gay friends as proof that he isn’t racist. The article goes on to talk about how he hears his black and Latino friends talk about how the even in the gay …

Read more

Color-Blind Education

by

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about color-blind ideology and how it affects our school systems. It is interesting to think about the fact that some educators endorse this color-blind ideology and can not see the potential negative effects it has on children. When I think back to my experience as a child, I try to remember how my elementary schools teachers approached students of color. Unfortunately, it is not something that I can …

Read more

A Confusing Conversation

by

In class we talked about how White people often times do not mention if a person they are talking about is Black, or will whisper the word Black and show discomfort if referencing a Black person. Over the weekend I witnessed this happen. My friend from home came to visit school. She was talking to somebody who shared mutual friends with her, and I heard her say “do you know Aaron, he’s uh you know …

Read more

Implicit and Explicit Prejudices

by

It’s difficult to discuss prejudice without clarifying what it is. The fourth edition of the American Heritage College Dictionary provides four meanings for the term—from “an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts” to “irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race or religion.” Both definitions apply to the experiences of ethnic minorities in Western society. Of course, the second definition sounds much more menacing than the first, but prejudice in either capacity has the potential to cause a great deal of damage.

Read more

Microaggressions and Being Assertive

by

As I was reading the blog posts regarding microaggressions, my mind quickly jumped to my Interpersonal Communications class and the book that we just read on being assertive. When learning about assertiveness, we learned that it is important in being assertive to stand up for yourself and say something to someone when they give you a certain look, or a microaggression. The book on assertiveness says that if someone gives you a look that you take to be a passive aggressive way to discount you or what you are saying or doing, you should say something along the lines of “I’m not sure what you mean by that look. What were you trying to say?” The book explains that everyone has a right to assert himself or herself and stand up for themselves when it is necessary. However, while reading the blogs I realized that being able to be assertive in many situations is a white privilege.

Read more

Trayvon Martin: ‘Racism without Racists’

by

Everyday people of color, especially young men of color are profiled. They are seen as criminal, unsafe, suspicious, etc. Unfortunately, this issue has to be brought to light to the eyes of many Americans through the story of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed for appearing “suspicious.” Trayvon was unarmed, wearing a hoodie, and about 100 lbs lighter than his killer, George Zimmerman, but for some reason Zimmerman felt threatened. Zimmerman has yet to be arrested under a self-defense claim. Normally, in cases of self-defense, the one claiming self-defense bears the burden of proving that is the case, but in this particular situation, the police have chosen to take Zimmerman’s word for truth. It took three weeks for this story to receive the attention it deserves, despite the recent emergence of a socially aware group both for and against Kony 2012.

Read more

Making Excuses

by

In the film The Blind Side while the “white” women were eating “$18 salads” at a restaurant, Sandra Bullock’s character asks if any of the other ladies had ever been to the “other side” of town after some teasing remarks, the one woman stated; “I’m from there, but with a little hard work and now look at me”. For me this resonated with the frameworks we discussed in class on Wednesday and how if “they” just worked harder they too could live the “good life”. It also brought to mind Trayvon Martin and the way that people have stated that “if he had dressed differently” he would not have appeared to be “suspicious or threatening” again; change and conform to white society and everything will be just fine.

Read more