COLOR BLIND RACISMCayce McCamish

COLOR-BLIND RACISM: RACISM WITHOUT RACISTS (BONILLA-SILVA, 2006)

Qualitative research on the new face of racism- Color-blind Racism

Color-blind Racism: “racial norms disallow the open expression of racial views,

[and as a result] whites have developed a concealed way of voicing them” (Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p. 57).

“practices that are subtle, institutional, and apparently nonracial” (Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p. 3).

While avoiding overt verbal expressions of racism, white participants none-the-less conveyed racialized ideology in a “very careful, indirect, hesitant” and “coded language” (Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p. 55).

Recognition of this change in the language and expression of racism is critical for our efforts to continue to name it as racism.

COLOR-BLIND RACISM: CENTRAL FRAMES

Central frames: Abstract liberalism: emphasizes equality in

theory, but rejects any necessary policy changes which would give the appearance of “preferential treatment” to minority groups

Naturalization: explains race-related occurrences as though they are simply part of the natural order of things

Cultural racism: utilizes “culturally based arguments” to explain “the standing of minorities in society”; have replaced “biological views” about racial inferiority.

Minimization: “discrimination is no longer a central factor affecting minorities’ life chances”

I don’t see skin color. I am

completely color blind.

For instance, I don’t see that the man next to me is Black.

No, sir. I don’t see it.

COLOR-BLIND RACISM AND POWER

Patricia Hill-Collins asserts “racism is a system of power with four domains” which are: structural, disciplinary, cultural, and interpersonal (Hill-Collins, 2009, p. 53).

Racism is “produced and resisted within each domain of power as well as across all four domains” (Hill-Collins, 2009, p. 55).

4 DOMAINS OF POWER (HILL-COLLINS, 2009)

Structural Disciplinary

Cultural Interpersonal

“how racism as a system of power is set up,” and “organized” through “social institutions”

“use the rules and regulations of everyday life to uphold the racial hierarchy or to challenge it” and is organized through “bureaucracies” and rely on “surveillance”

“manufactures the ideas that justify racial hierarchy” by “constructing representations, ideas, and stories about race and racism”

“shapes race relations among individuals in everyday life” whereby during “ordinary social interactions” individuals “accept and/or resist racial inequality” in their lives

PROPOSED MODEL FOR EXAMINING DISCIPLINARY DISPROPORTIONALITY (MCCAMISH, 2012)

Structural Disciplinary

Cultural Interpersonal

What policies and procedures impact Disciplinary Disproportionality? How so?

What does our disciplinary data tell us about Disciplinary Disproportionality? What behaviors are most involved? How are our disciplinary expectations impacted by race and culture? How consistent are we?

What are the unspoken beliefs held by staff about our students and their families based upon race and culture?

What do we know about relationships between individuals of different races? Do our staff members establish meaningful relationships with African American students?

REFERENCES

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2006). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States (2nd ed.) Lanham, MD: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

Hill-Collins, P. (2009). Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibilities. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

McCamish, C. (2012). Disciplinary Disproportionality and the Organization of Power. Retrieved from NC Docks http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/listing.aspx?id=9436.