Colorblind Racism

Last night at the University of Missouri someone vandalized the Black Culture Center sign, spray-painting over the word Black.

It's important to think about the nature of this vandalism. There are no epithets or crude expressions here. Instead, there is simply negation of identity. This is vandalism motivated by colorblindness.

For many of us, "colorblindness" conjures inspiring visions of a world where the inherent worth and dignity of all people is affirmed and there is no racial hierarchy or discrimination. I like that vision as much as the next person, but if you think that is how colorblindness has actually been operating in the United States, you haven't been paying attention.

In practice, colorblindness is the dominant form of White racism in the contemporary United States. This is a different colorblindness than the vision sketched above, though it appropriates its language. Proponents of colorblindness fail to recognize their own Whiteness and the White spaces they inhabit. They falsely label these identities and spaces as non-racial. In effect, they demand that others adapt to White norms, values, and practices. Instead of working hard to undo racial hierarchies, they unilaterally declare their irrelevance. The effect is not to dismantle racism, but to hide it. Like the vandal, proponents of colorblindness then take offense when Black people respond to this oppression by seeking to make space for themselves and speak of race in explicit terms.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but you think we should all be quiet about race, you're part of the problem.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but you think your responsibility is simply to be kind in your interpersonal relationships, you're part of the problem.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but you don't support legal and institutional reforms, you're part of the problem.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but you don't understand that White Americans gain specific advantages because of their race, you're part of the problem.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but you insist on forgetting American history, you're part of the problem.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but refuse to let the experiences of others shape your perceptions, you're part of the problem.

If you would never dream of vandalizing a sign, but you're a Christian who thinks your faith teaches you to be colorblind, you're part of the problem.

We must be willing to examine not only the superficial rhetoric of colorblindness that sounds so nice, but the actual purposes for which it is deployed. Colorblindness negates identities, silences protest, and affirms the legitimacy of an unjust society.