There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

Our country has become so politically correct that race is supposed to be ignored. It is wrong to even notice the color of someone’s skin. Apparently the Civil Rights movement has been so successful that people of color no longer have obstacles to overcome. However, reality is a long way from this assumption. Racism has gone underground but is alive and well in the USA. Blacks still have more trouble getting jobs. The prisons are filled with African-Americans, not because Blacks are inherently more likely to commit crimes, but because of the impact of poverty, police profiling, stereotyping, and racism. Afi-Odelia Scruggs writes of a parent who discovered that her child’s class had created a timeline of civilization with nothing about Africa. History, apparently, only happened in Europe. (Scruggs, Afi-Odelia. Colorblindness: the New Racism? Teaching Tolerance. 36.) Bonilla-Silva addresses this problem in his book, Racism without Racists. Nowadays white people think racism has disappeared. They say that they have Black friends. They know lots of Black professionals. It would appear that being black is no longer an obstacle for educational and economic success. This places the blame on African-Americans who are not successful. Since they do not have the resources available to whites, minorities have much more trouble making it out of poverty situations. Schools in Black and Latino neighborhoods have less experienced teachers, high student to teacher ratios, fewer supplies, and less technology. However, whites often see Blacks as poor students because of lack of ability rather than lack of background. An interesting controversy has come up over the Cheerios ad showing a bi-racial couple with a daughter. Many whites objected to the commercial because they did not approve of mixed marriages. The manufacturer refused to pull the ad and, instead, produced another ad that shows the couple telling the little girl that she is going to be a big sister. Bonilla-Silva points out that whites say they approve of bi-racial marriages but they sound like they have reservations. In addition, many whites clearly indicate that people should marry within their own race. Finally Bonilla-Silva says that whites who are not close to any black people tend to be very negative about bi-racial marriages.(p. 123) They think that there will be serious problems because of the differences between people of different races and that their children will be discriminated against. Bonilla-Silva states that whites are often colorblind unless they lose out to someone of color. An example of this would be job applicants who feel they did not get a job they were qualified for because it was given to someone who was Black. They blame affirmative action for giving jobs to underqualified Blacks. What they don’t realize is they are stereotyping people by race because there is no reason to believe that the person who got the job is not only qualified, they may be better qualified for the position. This same attitude is in effect when housing is the issue. Although it is illegal to refuse to rent or sell based on race, segregated housing still exists in the United States. According to a new study done by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing discrimination still exists. Colorblindness is only a convenient explanation of America that refuses to acknowledge the gap between the powerful white culture and the continued lack of civil rights for minorities.

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-36-fall-2009/feature/colorblindness-new-racism http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/business/economy/discrimination-in-housing-against-nonwhites-persists-quietly-us-study-finds.html?_r=0