Racism DOESn't Exist

Bonilla-Silva’s Racism without Racism first five chapters are geared toward the fact that we live in a “color-blind” society.  To refresh your memory, color-blindness is when you don’t believe that race or ethnicity matters, when in fact it does. To be color-blind means to “disregard” the fact that this person’s skin may be a different color than your own. We live in a society where we blame the next race for being racist without taking a look at ourselves. Chapter one starts off discussing what I would call the “blame game”. “More poignantly, most whites insist that minorities (especially blacks) are the ones responsible for whatever “race problem” we have in this country “(pg.1). Here you have whites basically blaming blacks and other minorities for being sensitive to racism, but seemingly are quite sensitive themselves when they feel the tables are turned. Whites (some) often say that racism does not exist and that it only exist because blacks still complain about certain things. Whites see nothing wrong with how America operates just because whites sit at the top of the chart, while minorities fall beneath in politic, social, economic and educational aspects.

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                The central frames of color-blind racism all describe different views of racial ideology. All four components are broken down in chapter two with a description. The one that I found the most interesting was Naturalization. Naturalization suggest that segregation is natural because races “navigate to likeness” (pg. 28). It’s saying that people in general are accustomed to their own kind, which automatically draws the comfortable line. This in fact describes color-blindness and how Americans do not see racism for what it really is. Chapter three for me was very eye opening seeing how it was about being racist “without” trying to be. We often use fraises that clearly are racist, but use them to avoid sounding races. My favorite line is “I don’t mean to sound racist but...” One of the most common racial lines to date. When people make those types of comments it usually ends with a racist remark. Also people try to not sound or seem racist by insisting that they have a “white friend” or a “close black friend”. I found humor in that because I’ve experienced hearing these type of comments.  Chapter four switches into how minorities believe that there skin color cost them some benefits such as jobs and schooling. It is often said that the past is the past and that race does not play a role in the picking and choosing of employees and students, but if you compare a black male and a white male with the same credentials, the white man will prevail over the black man just because whites sit at the top of the chart. Chapter five talks about white segregation and how whites separate themselves as a whole. All white communities, schools etc. were normal to whites so they didn’t see a problem when it was noticed that they segregated themselves from others.  I believe that color-blindness in America is an issue that will continue to be an issue until a change is made.