America The Blind

source: Fifa.com
You know those deep conversations you have with someone that tend to taper off onto topics that are usually never discussed?  Those conversations that hold thoughts and opinions that you keep in the back of your mind, but never really talk about?  I'm not talking about the ones about space and UFOs, but rather the ones on society and race.  Do you notice how when you do talk about race or racism, you tend to support equality and move away from sounding racist?  The better question to think about is-do you think you're racist?  Ever?  According to Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's Racism Without Racists, in chapters 1-5, he describes the new modern racism-color blind racism.  Along with that he talks about the ways whites respond to race and how white segregation is a real thing in our country.  

source: sbs.com/insight
So what exactly is this color-blind racism Bonilla-Silva talks about?  Essentially, it is being racist by not actually saying anything racist out loud.  This is because the person avoids racial terminology.  Instead they would defend that the color of your skin has nothing to do with how you flourish in America.  Bonilla-Silva simplifies it down, "Shielded by color blindness, whites can express resentment toward minorities; criticize their morality, values, and work ethic; and even claim to be the victims of "reverse racism"(Bonilla-Silva 4).  Ultimately this is how whites are racist without saying racial slurs.  So how do whites go about this you might ask?  Bonilla-Silva includes four frames built into color-blind racism, and they include: abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, and minimization of racism.  Abstract Liberalism includes social polices or political ones in an abstract way to define racial circumstances.  One way to describe this is Bonilla-Silva's example, "regarding each person as an "individual" with "choices" and using this liberal principle as a justification for whites having the right of choosing to live in segregated neighborhoods"(Bonilla-Silva 28).  This means that whites do not think about the socio-economic factors between minorities that affects where or how they live.  Naturalization is a bit more straight-forward.  It allows whites to say things are the way they are (segregation) because that is how it is.  Whites are more liked and successful than minorities because of "natural occurrences".  Cultural racism is associated with saying cultural remarks to define that minority's status in our country.  For example, things like "Blacks are lazier than others" or "Mexicans don't really care for education".  Lastly, minimization of racism is saying that prejudice ways no longer affect a race in terms of life chances.  It is the whole "You didn't get that job because you do not meet requirements, not because you're black".  Rather, it is ignoring that skin color has plenty to do with who gets what job, and who gets into certain universities.  Overall, Bonilla-Silva argues that these are the fundamental aspects of how color-blind racism is racism without racists!

Moving onto chapters 3 & 4, Bonilla-Silva goes deep into the semantic moves that whites use to essentially "hide" their discrimination.  Some of these phrases include "I am not racist but..", and "Some of my best friends are black..".  Simply these play as cover ups to words that would come off as racist.  Since the person isn't actually saying the n word, it somehow makes it okay to use such phrases. The best example is one that goes "I am not racist because my older sister dated a black guy awhile ago".  Whites use such ridiculous phrases to confirm their color blindness.  I myself (back in middle school) have thought that the excuse "I have a black friend therefor I cannot be racist", was completely fine and justifiable.  I mean if you can have relations with a colored person that must mean you aren't racist.  Right?  Nope!  I saw in myself a racist mentality and learned how to change the way I saw other minorities.  In Chapter 5, Bonilla-Silva discusses white segregation and confirms its existence in America.

Let me say that by the end of this chapter I realized whites really do segregate themselves in this country.  They choose to live by other whites, go to school with other whites, and associate themselves more with whites.  Sarah Nell describes these scenarios in her post I'm Not Racist, I'm Color-bind by saying that whites are most always given the benefit of the doubt.  She mentions that whites use color blindness to their advantage and to keep reason behind their success over other minorities.  Another semantic move she uses is how whites defend themselves by saying that people of color use the "race card" when insulted.  In reality, the person is really being discriminated against and whites like to proclaim that minorities are being racist themselves because they use the "race card" and whites usually don't.  Word of advice that Nell writes in her post: we as a country must discuss race and deal with race in order to see racism change for the better.

Whether you can admit it or not, racism is around us in our present lives.  It hasn't gone away since post Jim Crow because we now have different ways to go about it.  Whether we are open about it or not, if we choose to discuss it or not, the only way to move forward is to accept racism in its form today.  Once we are aware off the fundamentals of color-blind racism, it is then that we can go about it in a more positive way.  Even if racism doesn't go away (most likely won't), it is much better to be honest about our racial opinions rather than hiding behind semantic phrases and excuses.


http://www.sociologyinfocus.com/2012/01/30/im-not-racist-im-colorblind/

http://www.policymic.com/articles/55867/colorblindness-is-the-new-racism