A Different Meaning to the Term Colorblind

    

When a person first hears the word colorblind, their first thought is a person not being able to see certain colors. Bonilla-Silva has written about a different kind of colorblind, he discusses colorblind racism. Colorblind racism is new kind of racism that we are most common with in today's world. It is a way of being racist in an indirect way. In his book Bonilla-Silva explains colorblind racism by its central frames by describing its central frames.  According to Bonilla-Silva there are four frames of colorblind racism; abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, and minimization of racism.

Abstract liberalism is the most important frame because it is the foundation of new racial ideology. With abstract liberalism whites all agree that everyone should be treated equal, but when asked about giving minorities benefits to create equality most whites find reasons against it and do not offer suggestions on how to make things equal. Naturalization of racism is the racist practices used openly in society. Segregated schools and low rates of interracial marriage are seen as normal and natural, they are not seen as racist. Naturalization of racism has no one to blame and because there is no one to blame there is little that can be done to change it.  Cultural racism is the belief that there is nothing biologically wrong with minorities but believe they have bad work ethic and morals. Cultural racism blames the victim and some may say minorities use racism as an excuse to get handouts. Minimization of racism is the belief that there is still a little bit of racism but it really isn’t that bad. In most cases whites do not face racial discrimination in their daily lives and they do not see how minorities are treated differently because of their race. This is also the belief that minorities are not held back because of their color but instead it is because of their beliefs.

As I said earlier, colorblind racism is a way of being racist without it being so obvious. Colorblind racism is done indirectly and subtle. Phrases like “I’m not prejudice but…”, and “Some of my best friends are...”,  are often used by people who are going to say something racist and do not want to be labeled racist. By saying “I’m not black so I don’t know”, giving “yes but no answers” and discussing anything but race are rhetorical moves to explain away racism. Another way whites protect themselves from being labeled racist is to play the victim themselves and claim the minorities are racist. By blaming someone else they can escape guilt and responsibility.  There is no clear way to end racism. After the Civil Rights movement a lot of things got better for minorities but as we can see there still is racism. The best thing we can do to end racism is to educate ourselves and others. 

Here is a link to an article for more information on colorblind racism.

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

Here is another link to an article I found interesting. It shows phrases commonly used by people who are colorblind racist and there are responses people should give to these phrases.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/02/10/7-things-color-blind-racist-friend-might-say-respond/