Post-Reading Questions: Week Five

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva refers to Colorblind Racism as 'racism lite' because it is not outright racism. It is more like covert racism. This theory makes excuses that are supposedly the reasons why minorities are not up there in statistics with the whites and says that the reasons are anything but race.

I think that the video is racist because of the things that the girl is saying to the person of color she is with. I don't think that the fact that the girl is impersonating someone who is white. I found it more racist the things she was saying were kind offensive to African Americans. The girl says things that she assumes all African Americans do, look like, or say.

People that are considered to be white gain from colorblind racism because no questions why there is a structural difference between them and people of color. Instead they see the differences as minorities' faults and there is nothing they could do about it because of certain aspects.

Some of the scenarios that I found are "obviously" indicative of colorblind racism are "At a dinner party in the suburbs, the discussion turns to the problems in urban schools. One of the participants responds, 'I don't want to sound racist, but, it is going to be difficult to change the schools when those parents just don't care what their children are doing in class.'", "After the election of Barack Obama, rumors abound that he is secretly Muslim and is therefore unfit to be the President.", "A guidance counselor gently suggests to one of their Latino students that they might benefit from taking a home economic class.", and "A sorority on campus features a 'Ghetto party' where participants are encouraged to dress in things like baggy pants, do-rags, penciled-in eyebrows and other characteristics of the 'the ghetto'." The one that I feel is somewhat ambiguous about is "News media outlets eagerly discuss the release of a new book, which argues that 'over bearing, strict and pushy moms' are the reason behind the success of Asian students in school." I am ambiguous about this one because I'm not exactly sure if this could be considered as colorblind racism or not. I have a feeling that it is but then I feel like it isn't.

The major aspect of American race relations that is 'left out' when people talk about diversity is inequality. This is a problem because if we are not able to talk about it then we will never be able to solve it and get rid of the inequality. If we don't talk about it, inequality will always be there and we will always have to live with it.

We study colorblind racism in Ethnic Studies because it pertains with the races in the world and it shows that it affects some of them. This does matter in our pursuit of social justice because if people continue to think this way then inequality will never be faced head on and there will be no chance of it being fixed.

I think that colorblind racism is somewhat of a useful tool in understanding race in the United States because it shows how some people see racism. It shows that some people will push away inequality and just make excuses for the problems with race.

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