The Right Wing Colorblind Lie

People on the right get indignant and angry when called out on racism. They all claim not to see color, they claim to be color blind. But they are far from it. Edward Bonilla Silva calls this Colorblind Racism. Bonilla-Silva argues that whites’ views constitute an ideology rather than mere prejudice.

Color-Blind Racism​


For analytical purposes, racial ideology can be conceived as comprising the following three elements: frames, styles, and racial stories. The central frames or themes of this ideology are set paths for interpreting information. There are four principal frames: (1) abstract liberalism, (2) naturalization of race-related matters, (3) cultural racism, and (4) minimization of racism.

The frame of abstract liberalism uses ideas typically associated with liberalism, such as “equal opportunity,” “meritocracy,” and “individual effort,” in an abstract and decontextualized way to account for inequality. For example:

I don’t think they should be provided with unique opportunities. I think that they should have the same opportunities as everyone else … I don’t think that just because they’re a minority that they should, you know, not meet the requirements, you know. (Bonilla-Silva 2003)

This response ignores the effects of past and contemporary discrimination on the social, economic, and educational status of minorities. Therefore, by saying “they should have the same opportunities as everyone else,” this person is defending racial inequality in the educational realm while maintaining her non-racist image.

The naturalization frame explains racial matters, such as residential segregation or whites’ preferences for whites as partners and friends, as natural outcomes. An example:

I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault. Because people tend to group with their own people. Whether it’s white or black or upper-middle class or lower class or, you know, upper class, you know, Asians. People tend to group with their own.... You know, people group together for lots of different reasons: social, religious. You can’t force that. (Bonilla-Silva 2003)

By suggesting that segregation is natural, this respondent ignores the legacy of legalized Jim Crow segregation and the structural dynamics that exist in the early twenty-first century to keep racial groups apart.

The cultural racism frame relies on arguments based on culture to explain the position of racial groups in society. In essence, whites “blame the victim” by suggesting that the position of minorities is due to their family disorganization, lack of effort, or laziness. An example:

If they worked hard, they could make it just as high as anyone else could. (Bonilla-Silva 2003)

Believing that blacks live in the projects because they do not work hard, as this person suggests, shows whites’ amnesia about past and contemporary discrimination in the labor and housing markets.

The minimization of racism frame suggests discrimination is no longer a real problem because civil rights legislation eradicated all racial ills and people are now “beyond race.” An example:

I think sometimes it’s an excuse because people felt they deserved a job, whatever! I think if things didn’t go their way I know a lot of people have tendency to use prejudice or racism as whatever, as an excuse. (Bonilla-Silva 2003)

By minimizing the significance of discrimination, whites can deflect minorities’ claims of discrimination and bounce them back to them as “excuses,” or as playing the infamous “race card.”


Each one of these have been used by members in this forum.
Quit whining about racism. Nobody really gives a shit what color you are, we just don't like how you vote.
 
It has been shown sufficiently to anyone with a modicum of discernment that if you "make allowances" for people who are marginally or not qualified, everyone is harmed except the individuals who are given a pass.

When I was young Negro Yoots were told that the world WOULD NOT cut them a break, and they had to be just as good or better than competing whites for that job, or promotion, or admission to a school. This philosophy resulted in millions of Blacks lifting themselves out of childhood poverty into the Middle Class. There were setbacks and injustices, of course, but the "systemic racism" that prevailed before, say 1965 was swept away in fairly short order.

Today's Black Yoots are taught that they are ENTITLED to be tested and evaluated on a lower scale (because of past racism and slavery), and the failure of society to do so amounts to an INJUSTICE against them. Which is bullshit.

Look what it has produced.
 

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