Mickey Mouse ain't got no race. He represents all men.

Photo Credit Anthony Watson

     Bonilla-Silva argues in Racism Without Racists that modern American's live in a society filled with color-blind racism and racial inequality.  Color-blind racism is, according to Bonilla-Silva, white attitudes towards race that have moved away from the more straight up racism of pre-1970's to the post Civil Rights era racists attitudes that are still framed in a manner that supports white privilege.   Modern color-blind racism hinges on four frames abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism and minimization.  This blog will focus on abstract liberalism as it is, according to Bonilla-Silva the foundation for modern color-blind racism.

     Abstract liberalism is the use of political liberalism's ideas in an abstract manner to explain race and often to oppose ideas of racial equality by stressing how things like affirmative action might, in an abstract sense, work against the ideas of social justice and equality.  This argument ignores that inequality is built into social institutions and affirmative action is used to work against those institutional blocks to equality.  White attitudes of color-blindness and arguing for the status quo of white privilege was portrayed in the 1970's satirical sitcom All In The Family.  Archie Bunker's  character is a white working class man trying to deal with how to act in a post-civil rights era.  Meanwhile, his daughter's attitudes closely reflect the findings of Bonilla-Silva regarding young white working class women having the most progressive views regarding affirmative action, marriage, and white privilege.  Archie let American society laugh at it's own awkwardness about racial attitudes and work out why those attitudes were at odds with reality.

      Apfelbaum found in his research into companies managing multicultural teams, that people who practice color-blindness or are reluctant to observe race are often thought of as being more prejudice than those who openly acknowledge race during social interactions.  In fact recognizing and acknowledging race has historically been the path to moving forward in American society.  According to Bonilla-Silva, when the joint efforts of racial minorities and white progressives work together, like Thaddeus Stevens or John Brown, racial progress can proceed forward.  White abstract liberal attitudes towards a meritocracy at work might change in the face of true discussion.  Rather than remain silent and pretend race doesn't exist, discussing how mostly white corporations fill mostly black cities as a problem that needs to be solved rather than assuming it is just a choice that minorities are making.

     The best way in my opinion to fight abstract liberalism is to talk about it, to think about it and to satirize it.  Carroll O'Connor led that charge in the 1970's and now people like Stephen Colbert are working to follow in his footsteps and keep society aware that presenting ideas like affirmative action is some kind of reverse discrimination ignores the built in racism that already exists.  

What you talking about America?

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism & Racial Inequality in Contemporary America talks about how people react and respond to questions that involve race and the advantages and disadvantages of some races. In his chapter 8, titled Are Blacks Color Blind, Too, 17 black respondents are interviewed and asked some of the same questions as their white counterparts. Do you believe or agree with affirmative action? Do you think discrimination still exists? Do you believe in interracial relationships? Understandably, the responses were very different than their white counterparts. Although, there were some blacks that did agree with white respondents. One black respondent stated that she didn’t agree with affirmative action and that everyone should have an equal and fair chance. Another respondent said about interracial relationships, “I think people of the same race should stay together instead of interacting.”(Bonilla-Silva, 169). Is this a shock to anyone or are they a product of their times?  Older black respondents mostly agreed with or mirrored their white counterparts, though there were some younger blacks who also agreed as well. But to say that blacks are color blind is a huge misstatement. Because even while some of the black responses were similar to the white respondents, there was always a follow-up answer that said that blacks still experience discrimination and most, if not all, of the black respondents had experienced it at some point in their life.

I know that there are blacks who discriminate against blacks. There are also blacks who discriminate against whites. There are some blacks who are equal opportunity discriminators. But to say that we are a post racial, color blind society is a slap in the face to those who are still fighting for equality among races, of all kinds. Did electing a black president suddenly cure “the illness of racism”? It is my belief that it brought forth hidden views that have been and continue to be frowned upon. I don’t have to agree with or even like some of the views and statements that my friends have on race in America but does that make me racist because some of them happen to be white? Does it make you racist, if you don’t have any close minority friends or close black friends? Does it make you racist because you can name all the black people you know on one hand? No, none of these make you racist, it makes you seem sheltered and culturally handicap. What may make you racist, is you pigeon-holing and labeling all black people as lazy, ghetto, violent, ignorant, and unmotivated because of one bad experience that you had with someone of that race. Until we are able to acknowledge that our views of an entire race are based on what we see, experience, or hear about a race as represented by a very small fraction of that race; then we will never be a society that can accept a person for who they are and not what they look like. Because as many may hope, we will never live in a color blind society because before anything else you and I are Black, White, Latino, Arab, and Indian before anything else.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/racial-discrimination

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/28/for-african-americans-discrimination-is-not-dead/

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/08/75126-buchanan-whites-are-the-only-group-that-you-can-discriminate-against-legally-in-american-now/

 

Neighborhoods and Racial Progressiveness

Growing up across the street from a cornfield and a horse farm in rural Illinois meant that as a child my interactions with races outside of my own were limited.  My five closets friends, many who I met in high school (which was surrounded by cornfields) are white as well.  I grew up in a highly racially segregated community with maybe 2 to 3 percent of my high school’s students being minorities.  Bonilla-Silva dives into the concept of racial progressiveness in Detroit, which ultimately results in white women from the working class to be the most racially progressive demographic.  This data originates from fifteen years ago, and a new Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed over four thousand Americans to see how racially diverse American’s acquaintances (coworkers, friends, relatives) are.

The results of the poll were that “30 percent of Americans are not mixing with others of a different race” (Dunsmuir) and that about 40 percent of white Americans were not mixing with others of a different race.  One of the people who were polled, Kevin Shaw, may fit into Bonilla-Silva’s descriptions of someone who is racially progressive.   Shaw, who is white, grew up in downtown Kansas City, Missouri and attended a high school where he was in the minority.  He met his wife in high school, who is a Hispanic.  Shaw shares some of the same traits as the women who Bonilla-Silva identified as racially progressive.  Though Shaw’s comments were not published at great length, he commented that (when his neighbors asked if his mother-in-law was his maid) that “it was just a matter of ignorance," and “a lot of it comes down to where you grow up” (Dunsmuir).

The poll found that “as a group, Pacific states - including California, the most populous in the nation - are the most diverse when it comes to love and friendship. By contrast, the South has the lowest percentage of people with more than five acquaintances from races that don't reflect their own” (Dunsmuir).  Author of Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America Tanner Colby, who  grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, was surprised that the 40 percent of whites who didn’t mix with others outside of their race wasn’t higher.  Colby set out to write a book that explained why he didn’t have any black friends growing up, or even as a young adult, despite his eagerness to vote for Barack Obama.  Integration in the South, Colby argues, almost only occurred when initiated by blacks or when busing which “treated the issue of integration as a largely mathematical one” (Demby). Like Shaw, Colby came to the conclusion that “most people's social circles become entrenched as they get older; if you don't have friends of a different race by the time you're settling down, you're not likely to have many opportunities to make any” (Demby).

While these poll numbers might seem daunting, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that not all hope was lost.  Younger Americans, as a population, are more likely to have interactions with people of a different race.  “About one third of Americans under the age of 30 who have a partner or spouse are in a relationship with someone of a different race, compared to one tenth of Americans over 30. And only one in 10 adults under 30 say no one among their families, friends or coworkers is of a different race, less than half the rate for Americans as a whole” (Dunsmuir).   While interviewing people for his book, Colby said that the biggest issue for people, no matter their race was “comfort” (Demby).  If people are willing to reach across the racial lines running through America, despite it being uncomfortable, friendships and relationships can be formed that might make the generation after us Millennials to be even more racially progressive.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/08/us-usa-poll-race-idUSBRE97704320130808

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/08/11/210585899/some-of-my-best-friends-arent-black-or-brown-or-asian

Does love have a color?

Before taking this class, I had the unrealistic idea that at least 20% of marriages, or at least serious relationships, in the United States are interracial. Little did I know that “last year, 9% of unmarried couples living together came from different races, compared with [only] about 4% of married couples” (Alpert). Not only did this surprise me, but it made me wonder why more interracial couples are unmarried as opposed to married. Perhaps it is in part due to the cultural and religious differences that can become issues, or the risk of disapproving parents. One thing is for sure, there can be many more hurdles for interracial couples to jump than those couples of the same race or ethnicity.

One suggestion that Alpert gives in her

article is that since interracial couples already have the mindset of breaking boundaries, they don't feel as rushed to get married. I would have to agree with this. It also seems like many of the interracial relationships she speaks of in the article are of a younger generation. Bonilla-Silva adds to this idea that the younger generation is more accepting of interracial marriages by explaining that in his survey “the approval rate was higher among college students-80 percent for white-black unions and 86 percent for white-Mexican unions…”, and that this finding “fits research that suggests educated people are more likely to express approval for the principles of integration” (Bonilla-Silva 164). This makes me wonder if the age of the majority of those in interracial relationships is young and they are not ready to marry. Will we see a spike in the numbers of interracial marriages as these couples get older, or is there still something that will be holding them back from marriage?

            This question brings me to the point that Bonilla-Silva makes that interracial marriage is more opposed by whites than other interracial relationships. He explains that the white participants in his survey “are an example of what the white habitus produces, as they signify, despite the color-blind rhetoric, that

whites are not very likely to engage in interracial unions with blacks” (Bonilla-Silva 171). The white habitus being the force that conditions whites into their way of thinking; it is the way their psychology has been wired. It is interesting to me that what could continuously stand in the way of interracial marriages is the way that people have been conditioned growing up. Maybe it is too hard to break out of the mold that society has shaped us in, and only a fair few are actually able to do it. Could this be the real reason interracial marriage rate stay low? And although the rate of interracial couples in 2012 was double was it was in 2000, it is not nearly to the rate that I had first supposed (Alpert). I am curious to see if the rates will double again in the next ten years, and if our society’s way of thinking will steadily change. Can our society break away from the idea that “whiteness as a lifestyle fosters whiteness as a choice for friends and partners” (Bonilla-Silva 171), or will new ideas form over the next few decades that will increase the acceptance of interracial marriage?

Sources:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/31/nation/la-na-adv-interracial-love-20130901
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. "Peeking Inside the (White) House of Color Blindness." Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. 4th ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013. N. pag. Print.

The Forgotten Ones

Katie Vormittag

In the last few chapters of Bonilla-Silva’s Racism Without Racists, topics such as affirmative action are discussed between interviewers and respondents. Interviewers tried to gauge who was supportive of affirmative action and who was against it. From their answers, he then made connections to their gender and age. What he found was that most of the respondents who were supportive of affirmative action were younger females and blacks of all ages. Those that were against it were generally white and didn't agree with the inequality that whites were now receiving because of the affirmative action. Through all of the interviews it was made clear to the reader, or at least to me, that those who were directly affected by racism or those who grew up what we think is a less, discriminatory era were supportive and those that were on the other side of it were opposing. To me, this struck a chord personally because as affirmative action is in place to prevent black people from being discriminated against in the workplace and in university admissions, there are other groups that have been affected by tragedy that do not receive those same benefits. For example, one side of my family is Jewish and I had ancestors from Poland and some other European areas that were directly affected by World War II and the Holocaust. If they had not moved to the United States before Hitler came to power, I may not even be in existence. However, although my family has suffered from religious prejudice, I do not feel like I am owed anything. It was recorded that six million Jews were executed, yet there aren't any known organizations out there now that have anything to do with repairing the damage done and giving any benefits to the families affected. If certain groups are being compensated for discrimination, then all groups that have experienced similar tragedies need to be compensated as well. If that makes things too complicated, then everyone should be treated equally across the board. Discrimination will always be present; therefore, when one group receives more of something than another, the cycle continues. By eliminating anything extra for any one group, this makes discrimination even less likely. By eradicating specialties among any one group, no one is to blame for favoritism. Just as there is discrimination against Blacks, there is discrimination against all races. Therefore, favoring one group is unfair to others. By helping one race, another is being hurt. If this were equal among other groups, then Germans today should be discriminated against because their ancestors most likely participated in the Nazi regime and crucified the Jews in Eastern Europe. I do not feel like the hatred towards Blacks is fair; however, adding benefits that ends up hurting other racial groups is not fixing the problem. With every benefit given to the group discriminated against the most, the more everyone is reminded that prejudice beliefs are continuously being recycled. Not any one person today is to blame for the awful things that happened either in slavery or in the Holocaust, so this is why everyone today should be on the same playing field. 


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=i5Sev2dRrebenM&tbnid=xoy1SK0P1DML-M:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeminspire.com%2Fabigail-fisher-fights-affirmative-action-at-university-of-texas%2F&ei=iSJzUpvuDZDlyAHsooDICQ&bvm=bv.55819444,d.b2I&psig=AFQjCNEuEEN9YsDQDmc_8oCdH4pOoCfUfQ&ust=1383363591235038

No such thing as Colorblind

           Racism and racial inequalities seem to be particularly hot topics of our society in this day and age.  In chapter 7 of Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Racism without Racists, white college students were interviewed about their views on minorities and the laws regarding them. Many would say that all white people are racists or at least have some racial tendencies. However the findings concluded that there most certainly are white racial progressives whom do not have prejudices or discriminate against other races. Yes our society is filled with many white people claiming to be “colorblind” (which we all know is not the case) but there are those who truly believe in equality. Many white people do not support affirmative action and think that they are somehow being treated unfairly when they did not do anything wrong. But I would chalk this up to be white people not being knowledgeable about the struggles other races face and have faced for many years. Staci, one of the female interviewees believes that being white is an advantage and when you have white-skin privilege “things are more accessible to you. You don’t walk into somewhere and you’re not automatically judge by your skin color” (190). White people have a privilege that they may not but should be aware of because it is noticeable and quite obvious. Due to some whites lack of realization that they have a privilege that other races do not and will never have they fail to understand the hardships and disadvantages that minorities experience.

            I personally support affirmative action and I do not claim to be colorblind but I do of my privilege being white. Although I cannot relate to minorities because I do not know what they have been through, I do believe that every single human being deserves the exact same rights without any discrepancies. The world would be a much better place if there were equality for all but unfortunately due to all of those who oppose this idea I am not so sure if equality will ever see its place in our society. Bonilla-Silva’s research concluded that for the most part white people of the working class particularly women could more closely relate to minorities in terms of socioeconomic status. But why should this be the case? Why is society all about race and class? There has to be a line drawn somewhere, there has to be enough people who know that this inequality is not right and are willing to do something about it. I have not done anything on a large scale of greatness dealing with these issues but I do voice my opinion to those I am close to and I try to educate them about the knowledge I have learned in this class. I think that most people just need some educating and understanding of just how serious this racial issue is. I have come across many people who seem to think that race is no longer of importance today and that it is a “thing of the past” and I think that those people must be living in a separate universe because that could not be any further from the truth.

http://newsreel.org/guides/race/whiteadv.htm

http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm

Anti-Racists?

      

     Color-blind racism is a new racial ideology in which whites have developed powerful explanations, which have become justifications, for contemporary racial inequality that exculpate them from any responsibility for the status of people of color. Most whites rely on this ideology to articulate their views, present their ideas, and interpret interactions with people of color. Because whites believe discrimination is a thing of the past, minorities’ claims that they are being racially profiled, are interpreted as excuses. Whites do not have a problem with their own racial segregation because they do not see it as a racial phenomenon.

Racial progressives are people in which do not follow this pattern. They do not go with the flow of color-blindness. These racial progressives are made up of mostly young, working-class women. For example, Bonilla-Silva interviewed a student at WU named Beth. She grew up in a lower-middle-class neighborhood. Her four friends she mentioned were all of a minority ethnicity. She described herself as “very liberal” and supported interracial marriage strongly. She understood that discrimination affects the life chances of minorities and even supported programs compensating minorities for past discrimination.  An example of a racial progressive in the category of Detroit area residents is an unemployed woman named Sara. She was raised in Detroit in a low-income neighborhood and said the diversity in her neighborhood was a bunch of different people. Her friends correlated to that because she had one Arab friend, one black friend, one white friend, and one Mexican. She has had an affair with a black guy. She believes blacks experience daily discrimination and doesn’t believe that blacks are lazier than whites. She was one of few whites to acknowledge the fact that the company was 97% because of racism.

        These racial progressives were found to be more likely to support affirmative action and interracial marriage, have close personal relations with minorities and blacks in particular, and understand that discrimination is a central factor shaping the life chances of minorities in this country.  Bonilla-Silva has argued that whiteness is “embodied racial power” because all actors socially regarded as ‘white’ receive systemic privileges just by being white whereas those who aren’t white are denied those privileges. The interaction between race and gender has a lot to do with the U.S. being historically antiblack, antiminorty. White male workers have been historically supporting the racial order. White masculinity has provided white men with economic and noneconomic benefits. Bonilla-Silva has pointed out that contemporary racialized capitalism has created a situation in which white women and racial minorities increasingly share similar class conditions in the workplace. These racially progressive women used their own experiences of discrimination as women as a lens through which to they can comprehend minorities’ racial oppression.  

      Throughout history, there have been plenty of women that have been classified as racial progressives. One woman is Lillian Eugenia Smith (1897-1966) who was a writer and social critic of Southern United States. She was a liberal unafraid to criticize segregation and work toward dismantling Jim Crow laws.

http://www.conspireforchange.org/?page_id=7