Stephanie M. Miller
Kara Barnette
GNDR/PHI 300
Racial Colorblindness: A White System’s “Solution” to Racism
“I don’t care what you are, black, white, yellow, purple, polka dot… I don’t see color.”
This, along with many other similar statements, is often times used by White people in an
attempt to distance themselves from the United States’ racist past and assert their acceptance of
people from all cultures and backgrounds. The majority of White Americans today do believe
race should not define a person, nor should it determine the opportunities they get in life. Many
also conclude that to be anti-racist is to be blind to everyone’s race, and the solution to eradicate
racism is to eliminate race from our vocabulary, discussions, and visions overall. However,
colorblindness doesn’t just erase the color of a person’s skin. It erases People of Color’s
identities, their realities, and ultimately forces them to adapt to an oppressive system while
allowing White people to continue to ignore their own privilege.
While the logic of, “we’re all one human race” is ideal in theory, it’s centuries late to the
conversation. Had the current society been built on these principles, there certainly may have
been racial equality, for race wouldn’t have even existed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Our
entire system- from prisons and schools, to housing and entertainment industries- are all founded
on race and the oppression of People of Color. As Leslie Espinoza puts it: “Race works as an
effective system of oppression because it is there and not there—it is both a reality and a social
construction” (Embracing the Tar Baby, p. 571). Espinoza states that race has been historically
powerful to establish social hierarchies because it has the ability to use the physical and morph
its existence. People’s salient visible appearances are undeniable, yet have the flexibility of being
shaped into whatever the dominant society chooses to be necessary.
The majority of people in today’s society do not deny the power race had in the early
years of America, at least as far as the oppression of Black Americans go. While the colonization
of Native Americans and Latinos as well as the exploitation of Asian immigrants aren’t often
discussed (which is a problem in itself), it is seen as common sense to know about the horrors of
slavery, as well as the lynchings and segregation Black people faced up until the mid-twentieth
century. However, the end of the Civil Rights era is where this overwhelming consensus
dissipates. Because a law was passed ending legal segregation, many White Americans assume
that racism is nonexistent in our modern day lives.
Although overt forms of racism are now condemned in our society, covert forms allow
people to perpetuate oppression without acknowledging their racial bias. Dehumanization is one
common form of this oppression. In the past, this could be seen through the enslavement of
populations, as well as complete colonization of their lands. Today, this dehumanization can be
found in the rhetoric used by the dominant group to transform People of Color into societal
problems. For instance, describing young Black men as thugs or felons, Latin American
immigrants as illegal aliens, and all Muslims as terrorists. This camoflages racist ideologies
while maintaining and perpetuating their power to keep People of Color oppressed as inhuman.
What remains, then, is the idea that to be human is to be White. Even well meaning
White people who talk about envying People of Color for their culture because White people
“have none” assume that the norms and customs they grew up with are the default way humans
are. This privilege of seeing one’s own norm as the ocean every other lake derives from serves as
a way to maintain the system that every culture outside of the White norm can be viewed as
secondary and inferior. The unconscious association of color being synonymous to inferiority
then creates a fear of acknowledging a Person of Color’s race. Thus, to be polite to People of
Color and see them as human, White people attempt to deny seeing the color of their skin and
instead try to see them as White.
In turn, these acts are seen as a favor White people are presenting to People of Color to
join this mythical norm. It is an invitation to participate in their honorable White world—as long
as they stay within the set boundaries. In Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon discusses this
struggle of trying to survive as a Black man within the White dominant society. “When people
like me, they tell me it is in spite of my color. When they dislike me, they point out that it is not
because of my color. Either way, I am locked into an infernal circle” (p. 88). Here, Fanon
illustrates how White people let him know that they choose to either accept or deny him despite
of his race. However, the fact that they had to “look past” his race at all lets him know it is
something to be ashamed of, making his skin a Hell he can never escape.
Fanon also writes about the realization of his triple existence. His visibly black skin holds
him accountable for his body, his race, and his ancestors (p. 84). White people use any past
associations with his enslaved ancestors as a way to define his race. His Blackness then defines
him as a person, and any action Fanon does as an individual reflects both his race and his
ancestors. Though he is expected to represent this triple identity, he is simultaneously asked to
remove himself from his Blackness in order to be considered a rational human, as though
Blackness distorts perceptions of reality while Whiteness clarifies it. Fanon writes, “Lay aside
your history, your investigations of the past, and try to feel yourself into our rhythm. In a society
such as ours, industrialized to the highest degree, dominated by scientism, there is no longer
room for your sensitivity” (p. 101). It’s important to note People of Color are never fully granted
access to “objectivity,” with their visible racial identity impossible to erase. This ability to label
Fanon’s, or any other Person of Color’s, perspective as being too sensitive or emotional is what
makes colorblind ideology so insidious in nature. With overt forms of racism, People of Color
can defend themselves and no one debates whether or not they have the right to do so. However,
by dismissing a Person of Color as sensitive, it takes away the power of their perspective and can
continue to perpetuate the idea that they are incapable of reason without giving them access to
words as a form of resistance.
Colorblindness not only takes away people of color’s power to use their words as
resistance, it attempts to take away their visible identities as a source for strength as well. Fanon
explains this as he is not given access to manhood, as well as the autonomy to express his
Blackness as he so chooses. “A man was expected to behave like a man. I was expected to
behave like a Black man—or at least a n*****” (p. 87). The dominant White culture allows
Fanon to be a man, but places his Blackness in front to ensure he is not seen as a full man. “For
not only must the black man be black; he must be black in relation to the White man” (p. 82).
This quote by Fanon also demonstrates how his Blackness must be defined through Whiteness.
That is, People of Color are allowed to express their racial identity as long as it is the one the
dominant White culture has constructed for them.
Implementing the colorblind norm does not require White people to shift their identities
and identity performances, with White people holding the privilege of building their identity
outside of their race. However, this is not the case for People of Color. As Carbado and Gulati
present in Working Identity, People of Color have to compromise their identity performance in
order to keep their White peers racially comfortable (p. 232). People of Color who discuss very
real racial experiences, such as the school-to-prison pipeline or a racially problematic movie, risk
the social and political image they are expected to maintain to continue participating in the
dominant White society. Further, they may encounter their White peers accusing them of
“pulling the race card” and “playing the victim,” which acts as another way to silence People of
Color and keep them in the small racial box they are allowed to perform inside.
This backlash can be seen when looking at Beyoncé’s recent music video and
performance at the Super Bowl. Typically, many praise Beyoncé’s danceable tunes. One can find
young adults “twerking” to her beats at the club, White and Black alike. Although twerking is a
dance move that stems from Black culture, it is deemed acceptable by White people, seeing as
they feel as though they can participate in it as well. However, many White people reacted with
anger and contempt to her act of releasing a song and music video where she unapologetically
and overtly embraces her Blackness. Many perceived her references to police brutality and the
Black Panther Movement as racist towards White people, as well as hatred toward cops. Tomi
Lahren, a White American talk show host and political commentator, shared her thoughts on the
performance: “You… just can’t let America heal. Keep ripping off the historical Band-Aid. Why
be a cultural leader when you can play the victim, right?”
Lahren’s colorblind statement presents the issue of racism as though everyone in the
United States has suffered from it. Embracing one’s color is now seen as racist- to the White folk
who have never even experienced the systemic oppression of their race. Framing Beyoncé as the
perpetrator of racism for refusing to stay within the boundaries White supremacy has placed on
her Blackness acts as a way to shift the blame away from the oppressors and onto the oppressed.
By classifying Beyoncé’s decision to choose how to perform her racial identity and acknowledge
systemic racism as inherently racist, White people further demonstrate how colorblind ideology
is not done for People of Color. Rather, it is done to maintain White racial comfort.
This racial comfort afforded to Whites creates a lack of the ability to tolerate any
discussions surrounding race and the inequalities perpetuated in our system. Robin DiAngelo
describes this intolerance as White Fragility, which encompasses a variety of uncomfortable
emotions and defensive actions White people use in order to reestablish their White racial
equilibrium (p. 54). This equilibrium is established through the systems that shield White folk
from dealing with racial issues throughout the majority of their lives, creating a threat whenever
this comfort is challenged. Responses to these challenges of their understandings of racism
include a sense of anger, fear, and guilt, as well as attempts to separate themselves from the
situation that is causing these feelings.
When defensive mechanisms arise, whether it be through arguing, staying silent or
storming out of the room, this limits White people from engaging in the racial dialogues that
need to be addressed in order to achieve full racial equality. By choosing not to question the
various systems of inequality, White people passively agree to continue maintaining these
systems. This illusion that one is their own identity separate from society is yet another part of
the racial comfort that is only afforded to White folk. The freedom of not seeing oneself as part
of a racial group promotes an individualistic ideology where one’s actions are just seen as a
reflection of themselves and their lives, not a part of the collective society (p. 59). This
perspective dresses White people’s active participation in the oppression of People of Color as a
problem that “other” people should deal with, not them.
Cloaking over their compliant support of racial inequality not only erases their
participation, it masks the existence of the social hierarchy altogether. Because White people
believe they don’t belong to a society that promotes inequality, People of Color must not either.
Thus, all of the barriers that have limited People of Color’s access to basic human rights are
labeled as the individual’s own laziness or inability to succeed, returning to the idea that it is
better to look at the oppressed for the reason behind their oppression rather than the oppressor.
When White people are given the opportunity to learn about their White privilege, often
times this recognition of their racial identity is interpreted as oppression. Having the privilege of
being at the top of the social hierarchy, many don’t realize that sharing the space they have
grown accustom to is not infringing upon their rights; it’s giving those rights to others as well.
This can be seen when looking at recent discussions of creating safe spaces for people of
oppressed groups on college campuses. There are many movements occurring at institutions
across the country that propose comprehensive diversity trainings and acts for inclusion,
however, many privileged people argue that these act as a way to restrict their freedom of
speech. They argue that colleges aren’t meant to be safe spaces; they are meant to challenge
students to grow from discomfort. They are right when they say students should be challenged to
grow from discomfort, they just fail to acknowledge that it is the privileged students who are
being shielded from discomfort and not the other way around. Safe spaces have always existed
on college campuses-if you are White, straight, cisgendered and male. Expanding their safe
space to leave room for others is not an infringement on their right to learn or speak freely, but
rather, it is an act to dismantle the privilege they have grown accustomed to.
If college institutions truly want to encourage their students to learn from each other,
they need to ensure it is an environment where every identity can share their perspectives.
Similarly, if society as a whole truly wants to achieve racial equality, White people need to begin
actively listening to People of Color and accepting the reality of their identities. They need to
accept the existence of the systems of inequality that they play a part of and begin to question the
status they hold. They can no longer accept the erasure of People of Color. They can no longer
expect People of Color to mold their identities without questioning their own. White domination
must be fought through discomfort, education, and racial acceptance, not through White
ignorance.