Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism (PhDD)

[txradioguy]

Oh FFS! 


Star Member BainsBane (13,970 posts)

Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism
Interesting article and it's worth reading the whole thing. I chose four paragraphs that get at the crux of the argument. It shows the idea that we can do away with racism by ignoring it is false.

What is racial colorblindness?

Racial issues are often uncomfortable to discuss and rife with stress and controversy. Many ideas have been advanced to address this sore spot in the American psyche. Currently, the most pervasive approach is known as colorblindness. Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity.
. . .

Racism? Strong words, yes, but let's look the issue straight in its partially unseeing eye. In a colorblind society, White people, who are unlikely to experience disadvantages due to race, can effectively ignore racism in American life, justify the current social order, and feel more comfortable with their relatively privileged standing in society (Fryberg, 2010). Most minorities, however, who regularly encounter difficulties due to race, experience colorblind ideologies quite differently. Colorblindness creates a society that denies their negative racial experiences, rejects their cultural heritage, and invalidates their unique perspectives.

Let's break it down into simple terms: Color-Blind = "People of color — we don't see you (at least not that bad ‘colored' part)." As a person of color, I like who I am, and I don't want any aspect of that to be unseen or invisible. The need for colorblindness implies there is something shameful about the way God made me and the culture I was born into that we shouldn't talk about. Thus, colorblindness has helped make race into a taboo topic that polite people cannot openly discuss. And if you can't talk about it, you can't understand it, much less fix the racial problems that plague our society. . . .

The alternative to colorblindness is multiculturalism, an ideology that acknowledges, highlights, and celebrates ethnoracial differences. It recognizes that each tradition has something valuable to offer. It is not afraid to see how others have suffered as a result of racial conflict or differences.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorblind/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/10023361541

[miskie]

That is the stupidest thing I had ever read.

Oh, and these girls totally disagree with you BB.

[youtube=420,315]i7iQbBbMAFE[/youtube]

[DumbAss Tanker]

PhDs are racist.

[FiddyBeowulf]

Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity.

Dr. King believed in judging people not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. I think he is a better authority on the subject than Juggs  or whatever race baiting author she copy and pastes.

[miskie]

Here is my thought on the death of the 'Colorblind' movement that went through the '80s and the '90s -

Race baiters realized that once people stopped being 'racist' in the United States (which is already true for the most part) by living in a 'Colorblind' society, the need to give people free stuff because they were born 'the wrong color' would also dissipate.

The article quoted by BB actually makes that point, then goes on to nullify it.

Racism? Strong words, yes, but let's look the issue straight in its partially unseeing eye. In a colorblind society, White people, who are unlikely to experience disadvantages due to race, can effectively ignore racism in American life, justify the current social order, and feel more comfortable with their relatively privileged standing in society (Fryberg, 2010). Most minorities, however, who regularly encounter difficulties due to race, experience colorblind ideologies quite differently. Colorblindness creates a society that denies their negative racial experiences, rejects their cultural heritage, and invalidates their unique perspectives.

Okay - Lets view this using common primitive dogma.

Only whites can be racist.
Whites are born with a privileged upbringing because of their race.

We have all seen both of these points made on DU hundreds of times.

So, if the majority of whites stop recognizing race as a determining factor, and are indeed welcoming minorities into privileged white life, where is the problem ? Blacks are entering the American Melting Pot, and are becoming an integrated part of American culture, versus a distinct subset.

And to the race baiters, that IS whats wrong with the Colorblind movement.

Once we all become Americans born with the same chances for personal success or failure, there is no longer any need for self-appointed race monitors to cry about every perceived wrong - and as racial problems melt away, so do their fortunes and political influence.

So, we have moved from 'Color Blindness' to 'Color Awareness' - which works to enhance racial tensions by highlighting racial differences instead of similarities. It also suggests that minorities are born disabled by virtue of color, and need extra help to overcome everyday obstacles.

There is no need.

1 - all of the slaves as well as their owners, are long dead.
2 - those who have lived through segregation are advanced in their years, and are dying off every day.

The truth is that if the Colorblind Movement wasn't suspended by the race baiters, nearly all of the kids born recently wouldn't care about race.

 

[jukin]

So we have to be racist to end racism?

1+1=POTATO

ETA, This is one of the finer examples of the left's cognitive dissonance. Historians and psychologists in the future will have a heyday reviewing and analyzing how such a large percentage of our population went crazy in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

[Chris_]

That is the stupidest thing I had ever read.

Considering the source... yeah.  Par for the course.

[The Albatross]

MLK is the patron saint of civil rights, yet at the same time it's racist to follow his teachings.  And these idiots think that makes perfect sense. 

 

[Carl]

**** off and die you stupid piece of shit.

[USA4ME]

"What is racial colorblindness?"

Whoever wrote the article doesn't even define it correctly, but rather defines it in a way to slant their own viewpoint.

Being racial colorblind doesn't mean you don't recognize people who are of different races, but rather that you don't treat people differently because of it or believe you're superior to them because of skin color. That's all.

Now I see from the things written on the island that POV is considered racist. What they're really saying is they want you to treat people different because the color of their skin tells the story of a background where they may have experienced others who have been unfair to them.

Well, I can't help that. How other people treated you is between you and them, not you and me.  In fact, it would be disrespectful for me to treat you differently just because someone else has treated you wrong in the past, as though you're some fragile being who will fall apart if I don't.

So no, not gonna do it. I'll just treat people the way God would have me treat them and let you LW freaks banter over things you can't even begin to understand.

.

[miskie]

So we have to be racist to end racism?

That Isn't what they want.

They want the specter of racism to continue to exist, so they can continue to fight it.  And what better way to ensure it continuing, then to champion programs that intensify racial tensions ?

[wasp69]

That Isn't what they want.

They want the specter of racism to continue to exist, so they can continue to fight it.  And what better way to ensure it continuing, then to champion programs that intensify racial tensions ?

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
― Booker T. Washington

[obumazombie]

Race hustling is a basic human right.

[98ZJUSMC]

Race baiters realized that once people stopped being 'racist' in the United States (which is already true for the most part) by living in a 'Colorblind' society, the need to give people free stuff because they were born 'the wrong color' would also dissipate

That scares the crap out of them.  Statistically, the US is one of the least racist countries on the planet.  Empirical observation, something few of these idiots actually experience, bears this out.

Whoever wrote the article doesn't even define it correctly, but rather defines it in a way to slant their own viewpoint.

The author wants to use color to justify abhorrent or aberrant behavior as something to be celebrated.  This is pure college (currently) pish-posh.

[dandi]

I don't think "colorblind" implies that racism doesn't exist or that it should be ignored when encountered, it is simply an affirmation that all races should be treated equally and without prejudice. As has been stated by others in this thread though, and it bears repeating, some political groups have a vested interest in making sure the racial pot keeps being stirred. Pandering and promoting victimhood are their bread and butter. When minorities become successful under capitalism, they start wanting to keep their gains, and not having to worry about day-to-day economic survival, they start thinking more and more about conservative social issues which are generally strong in minority groups, at least in the older demographics. That would make them naturally gravitate towards the party that promotes both of those ideals, the Republican Party. Democrats will do anything to avoid that, which means keeping minorities in economic slavery, and stoking the fires of racial fear and animosity like we saw with the Zimmerman-Martin case.

[98ZJUSMC]

I don't think "colorblind" implies that racism doesn't exist or that it should be ignored when encountered, it is simply an affirmation that all races should be treated equally and without prejudice. As has been stated by others in this thread though, and it bears repeating, some political groups have a vested interest in making sure the racial pot keeps being stirred. Pandering and promoting victimhood are their bread and butter. When minorities become successful under capitalism, they start wanting to keep their gains, and not having to worry about day-to-day economic survival, they start thinking more and more about conservative social issues which are generally strong in minority groups, at least in the older demographics. That would make them naturally gravitate towards the party that promotes both of those ideals, the Republican Party. Democrats will do anything to avoid that, which means keeping minorities in economic slavery, and stoking the fires of racial fear and animosity like we saw with the Zimmerman-Martin case.

 

[Ptarmigan]

Bainsbane is taking up another cause looks like. This has to be the stupidest I have heard. Colorblind is racism????????? 

[Ptarmigan]

Replies.

Socal31 (1,221 posts)
1. My children will be taught to be color-blind.


Last edited Sun Jul 28, 2013, 06:56 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
Calling that "racism" waters down the term, and is probably only for shock value to get views on the article.

Being "color blind" does not mean that you cannot acknowledge someone's inherent advantages or disadvantages. It does not mean you cannot celebrate their culture, and become a well rounded citizen by educating yourself on as many cultural backgrounds as possible.

What it does mean is that you don't ever succumb to prejudice based on superficial characteristics, such as skin color. It means that skin color X should never be viewed as positive or negative over color Y. It means you don't make assumptions about someone's advantages or disadvantages based on skin color alone. Leave stereotyping to the comedians and teabaggers.

It isn't a perfect world, so protections are needed to ensure that if civil rights are being violated, the violators get a public smack down and are made an example of.

I admire the author for broaching the subject, which is definitely a taboo in this society. More intelligent discussion like this is the only way we will ever move forward.

BainsBane (14,212 posts)
2. I disagree

Colorblindness is a pretense. It doesn't exist. Race is a very real phenomenon in America and throughout the world. Pretending it isn't makes it impossible to combat racism.

There is a difference between not harboring negative perceptions of a group of people because of their race and pretending that race doesn't exist. Teaching children to judge people on their character and behavior is of course admirable. That, however, is not blindness.

I've also heard African Americans say they find the concept that white people don't "see" their race offensive. It is part of who they are. Racial difference can be celebrated, which is part of what multiculturalism seeks to do.

First, it was anti-gun, now it is racism.

Deep13 (37,792 posts)
3. It serves to reinforce the status quo. nt

Agreeing with PhDD. 

nomorenomore08 (4,997 posts)
5. Exactly. That is the entire problem with "color-blindness" in a nutshell.

If we don't acknowledge what's wrong with the world, how will we ever be able to do anything about it?

Playing the race card. 

Pelican (1,084 posts)
55. The author is reinforcing the status quo...

by claiming people are different because of their race and you should treat them a certain way based on their melanin count.

BainsBane (14,212 posts)
10. no, that isn't the point at all

But to pretend racism doesn't exist leaves no way to combat the problem.

Yet, you obsess about it. 

PowerToThePeople (1,636 posts)
9. denial is not a river in Egypt

Many (Most) do not want to accept that their position in the economic food chain is a direct result of wrongs done to others.

LostOne4Ever (766 posts)
11. Colorblindness is a philosophy grounded in naive optimism for an America that does not exist

It (Color-blindness) is as fair to minorities as a healthy person having a foot race against a person with a broken leg. Color blindness only works if we were all working from a starting point of equality which the centuries of slavery and racism has prevented.

People who advocate color blindness are ignoring the systematic and pervasive amount of bigotry in our society that gives minorities far more hurdles to overcome. They are ignoring the poverty that racism has forced on many minorities. It is doctrine ground in ignoring the realities facing our country and pretending that the world is a perfect place where all people are treated fairly and justly.

It perfectly epitomizes the delusion and willful ignorance of the libertarian right

Bigotry happens beyond race. You DUmmies are the bigots!

BainsBane (14,212 posts)
13. Read the article

Think about what it says.

Skip Intro (18,335 posts)
14. Did. Don't buy it. Hell, even MLK dreamed of a colorblind age...

...you know, people being judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.

Yeah. Article is wrong.

BainsBane (14,212 posts)
16. So does that mean people need to become like you to be accepted?

That they can't retain their cultural distinctiveness and must become like the dominant white society?

I assert you don't understand MLK at all. It's one thing not to judge a person according to race and another to pretend race doesn't matter. If fact, the latter is the current talking point of White Supremacists.

[Big Don]

That is the stupidest thing I had ever read.

[youtube=420,315]i7iQbBbMAFE[/youtube]

Stupidest thing I ever read, and I read an Anne Rice book.

[thundley4]

The US government is the most racist organization in the country. 

[Chris_]

The US government is the most racist organization in the country. 

It is now.

[thundley4]

It is now.

It has been for a long time.  It forces companies and universities to meet racial quotas instead using merit based methods.

[Dori]

This is what some teachers in our public schools are up to

Book shows radical teachers how to mix traditional math with ‘social justice’ political lessons

http://eagnews.org/new-book-shows-teachers-how-to-mix-traditional-math-with-social-justice-political-lessons/

Two main themes emerge from the pages of “Rethinking Mathematics.”

The first is that the U.S. is a hopelessly racist country that routinely oppresses “people of color.”

This message is conveyed through lessons and essays about racial profiling, environmental racism, unfair mortgage lending practices of Big Banks, the “overabundance of liquor stores” in minority communities, and slave-owning U.S. presidents.

The book’s other major theme is that capitalism’s unequal distribution of wealth is the root cause of the world’s suffering. Students learn to despise free market economics in lessons about third-world sweatshops, “living wage” laws, the earnings of fast food workers and restaurant CEOs, and the “hidden” costs of meat production.

All of this sounds like material from a college sociology textbook. What could it possibly have to do with mathematics?

As the “Rethinking” teachers demonstrate, the math concepts of ratios, averages, percentages, bar graphs, density and geometric formulas are very useful when training kids to see the world in their preferred categories of “haves” and “have nots.”

‘Reading the world’

The ideas contained in “Rethinking Mathematics” are based on the principles popularized by Paulo Freire, the late South American radical educator.

Freire believed the purpose of education is to help students understand the historical and political forces at work in the world. He referred to this as “reading the world.”

According to Freire’s theory, students must understand how the world’s systems work to oppress the masses before they can reform those systems.

[Chris_]

This is what some teachers in our public schools are up to

Book shows radical teachers how to mix traditional math with ‘social justice’ political lessons

http://eagnews.org/new-book-shows-teachers-how-to-mix-traditional-math-with-social-justice-political-lessons/

Obama's Common Core curriculum.

[obumazombie]

Only parts of owebuma's society gets justice.