Why Color Blindness Is Counterproductive By Adia Harvey Wingfield

242 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The development of racism in America

In the article “Why Color-Blindness Is Counterproductive,” Adia Harvey Wingfield examines the effects of the colorblindness approach to achieving a post-racial society. Wingfield, a professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis and the author of numerous books and articles concerning racism in America, focuses her research around the effects of the colorblindness ideology on individual cultures and social issues. This article appears in The Atlantic, a left-leaning news source, along with a collection of Wingfield’s other articles, mostly covering issues concerning racism and segregation in America.
Wingfield’s claim that a colorblind approach to racism is counterproductive is supported by evidence pulled from two contradicting

Show More
Related

  • Bernard Boxill's The Color-Blind Principle

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Color-Blind Principle is written by Bernard Boxill discusses how color-blind and color-conscious are two very different things. This work also discusses the problems of discrimination based on something you are not responsible for such as being born black or white. Boxill uses the example of a university denying the rights of students’ admissions because their hair is parted to the right, then later states, “Suppose again for example, that a person is denied admission to law school because he parts his hair on the right side. Though he, far more easily than the black person can avoid being unfairly discriminated against, he does not thereby more easily avoid being the object, indeed, in a deeper sense, the victim, of unfair discrimination.” (463) I disagree with Boxill’s affirmative action idea because the idea of affirmative action is passing the discrimination from one race to the other.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Bonilla-Silva's 'Racism Without Racists'

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    Even though slavery was abolished Jim Crow laws were made illegal years ago, racism is still not gone, and this is Bonilla-Silva’s central argument in his book, “Racism Without Racists.” While racist practices are not as overt nowadays, the covert, institutionalized ways of today’s new racism are just as discriminatory, he argues. One particular sentence that stood out that sums up the first part of his argument is “that the main problem nowadays is not the folks with hoods, but the folks dressed in suits.” Because of this switch to a more covert way of discriminating against people of color, white Americans have become color-blind to racism. In turn, the country is now home to “racism without racists,” which is the second part of the author’s argument. Because racism has become so internalized in our institutions, it can sometimes be hard to recognize, or at least admit to, the discrimination that is so prevalent in the U.S. Because whites either don’t recognize or admit to this racism, they claim that they don’t see color, and that any inequalities that are at play are due to the minorities not working hard enough in our meritocracy.

    Read More

  • Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's Book, Racism Without Racists

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    Race has been an issue in North America for many years. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva discusses the new racism in his book, Racism without Racists. Bonilla-Silva classifies the new racial discrimination as color blind racism. Color blind racism is then structured under four frames (26). Color blind racism is believed to have lead to the segregation of the white race from other minorities called white habitus. Color blind racism and white habitus has affected many people, whom don’t even realize that they are, have been or will be affected.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Negrogroland: A Memoir By Margo Jefferson

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Based on the title of the book alone, it is easy to say that racism is one of the many social issues this book will address. Unlike the normal racism of Caucasians versus African Americans, this book focuses on racism of the black elite versus African Americans, also known as colorism. Colorism is the discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically by others of the same racial group. Margo Jefferson says, “Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty” (p. 1).

    Read More

  • Is Racism in the Heart? by Tommie Shelby

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shelby, T. (2002) “Is Racism in the Heart?” In G. L. Bowie, M. W. Michaels, and R. C. Solomon (Eds.), Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (479-483). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

    Read More

  • Race: A Philosophical Introduction by Paul Taylor

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Race-thinking: what is it? Isn’t the world past the issue of race? Do races even exist and if so, what does it mean to have a racial identity? Is colorblindness possible and how important is it? These are the questions Paul Taylor addresses in the book “Race: A Philosophical Introduction”. Paul Taylor is a self-proclaimed “radical constructionist” who will maintain that race is very real in our world and in the United States as a whole (p. 80). Taylor takes care to ensure he addresses the real needs concerning racial dynamics in the U.S., referencing historical events, prevailing policy affairs, and even pop culture to explain that everyone capable of forming opinions ought to have some sort of grasp of the concept of race-thinking. As Taylor will analyze, race and race-thinking “has shaped and continues to shape private interactions as well as the largest political choices” (p. 8). In other words, race-thinking encompasses everything we do and every interaction we have. In this paper I will attempt to interpret and expound Taylor’s views and definitions of race, concepts associated with race, and input my own interpretations as they are appropriate.

    Read More

  • Racial Segregation and Prejudice in ZZ Packer's Brownies

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mendoza-Denton, Rodolfo Ph.D. “Racism Against Whites: The Overlooked Phenomenon.” Are We Born Racist. Psychology Today. 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New, 2012. Print.

    Read More

  • What Effect Does Color-blind Racism Have on Minorities in Society Today?

    2186 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action: A Comparison of Color-Blind Versus Modern Racist Attitudes” explains the connection between colorb...

    Read More

  • Racism: Similarities and Differences In Two Essays

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    Neil Bissoondath differs in his definition of racism. He writes that the cause of racism derives fr...

    Read More

  • Racism and White Privilege in the Education System

    3421 Words  | 7 Pages

    Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their adherence to a belief system that does not see or judge individuals by the “color of their skin.” (Gallagher, 98) Many Caucasians in particular are of the opinion that because they listen to hip-hop or cheer for their favorite black, professional sports player that they are not racist. Still others believe that because they have a black president, we see black people in the commercial of products we consume, or enjoy television shows with black people that they are actually acknowledging race. In order to examine and dismantle this series of misconceptions, we will turn to the work of various scholars of social justice and privilege, including Peggy McIntosh, Patricia Hinchey and Johnathon Kozol as well as the story of Patricia J Williams. Through a careful examination of these works with the support of some key statistics, it is the goal of this paper to demonstrate the existence of a privileged and unprivileged America, despite the color-blindness many may profess to have integrated into their p...

    Read More

  • Colors: The Misconceptions Of Color Blindness

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a child growing up, I always knew I did not see colors the same way other kids did. It was not until I was older, and had an eye injury, that it was realized that I was color blind. When I would tell my peers that I was color blind I always got questions like, “What color is my shirt?” and “What color is the sky?’ These questions soon became annoying, and I stopped telling people I was color blind because I do see colors. I have problems distinguishing between the colors blue and purple, red and green, red and orange, green and brown, and so on. It is the hues that are a problem for me

    Read More

  • Colorism in the Black Community

    2707 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.

    Read More

  • The Development of Racism

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racism continues to remain "our American Obsession" (Loewen 139). Works Cited Blum, Lawrence. The. I'm Not A Racist

    Read More

  • Color Blindness

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    and can see just one color, and various shades of that color. This form is even

    Read More

More about Why Color Blindness Is Counterproductive By Adia Harvey Wingfield

Open Document