View source for Racial color blindness

{{short description|Sociological and legal term for disregard of race}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021 }}
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{{Primary sources|date=November 2017|reason="Support" and "Criticism" rely on citations to supporters and critics, rather than disinterested third-party sources}}
{{Globalize|1=article|2=United States|date=August 2022}}
{{POV|date=June 2025|talk=Article structure}}
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'''Racial color blindness''' refers to the belief that a person's race or ethnicity should not influence their legal or social treatment in society. 

The multicultural psychology field generates four beliefs that constitute the racial color-blindness approach. The four beliefs are as follows: (1) skin color is superficial and irrelevant to the quality of a person's character, ability or worthiness, (2) in a merit-based society, skin color is irrelevant to merit judgments and calculation of fairness, (3) as a corollary, in a merit-based society, merit and fairness are flawed if skin color is taken into the calculation, (4) ignoring skin color when interacting with people is the best way to avoid racial discrimination.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Jackson |first1=Matthew C. |title=Seeing color blindness: Color-blind racial ideology research methods in social psychology. |date=2016 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14754-008 |work=The myth of racial color blindness: Manifestations, dynamics, and impact. |pages=125–140 |access-date=2023-04-24 |place=Washington |publisher=American Psychological Association |last2=Wilde |first2=Vera Katelyn |last3=Goff |first3=Phillip Atiba|doi=10.1037/14754-008 |isbn=978-1-4338-2073-1 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The term metaphorically references the medical phenomenon of [[color blindness]]. Psychologists and sociologists also study racial color blindness. This is further divided into two dimensions, color evasion and power evasion. '''Color evasion''' is the belief that people should not be treated differently on the basis of their color. '''Power''' '''evasion''' posits that systemic advantage based on color should have no influence on what people can accomplish, and accomplishments are instead based solely on one's own work performance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mio |first1=Jeffery Scott |last2=Barker |first2=Lori A. |last3=Domenech Rodriguez |first3=Melanie M. |last4=Gonzalez |first4=John |title=Multicultural Psychology |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, New York |isbn=978-0190854959 |pages=213–214 |edition=5th}}</ref>

At various times in Western history, this term has been used to signal a desired or allegedly achieved state of freedom from racial prejudice or a desire that policies and laws should not consider race. Proponents of racial color blindness often assert that policies that differentiate by racial classification could tend to create, perpetuate or exacerbate racial divisiveness. Critics often believe it fails to address systemic discrimination.<ref>Holmes, David G. (2007) [[doi:10.1080/07350190709336684|Affirmative Reaction: Kennedy, Nixon, King, and the Evolution of Color-Blind Rhetoric]], Rhetoric Review, 26:1, 25–41, DOI:</ref><ref name="Ansell 2008">{{cite book |last=Ansell |first=Amy E. |title=Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society |date=2008 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-45-226586-5 |editor-last=Schaefer |editor-first=Richard T. |pages=320–322 |chapter=Color Blindness |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=STR1AwAAQBAJ&q=%22color+blindness%22}}</ref><ref name="Sears 2000">{{cite book |last1=Sears |first1=David O. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780226744070 |title=Racialized politics: the debate about racism in America |date=2000 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-22-674405-6 |page=6 |display-authors=etal |url-access=registration}}</ref> 

It has been used by justices of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] in several opinions relating to [[racial equality]] and [[social equity]], particularly in public education.<ref name="Plessy">{{cite web |date=1896 |title=U.S. Reports: Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 |url=http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep163/usrep163537/usrep163537.pdf |publisher=[[Supreme Court of the United States]] |page=559 |via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref><ref name="Bakke">{{cite web |date=1978 |title=U.S. Reports: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 |url=https://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep438/usrep438265/usrep438265.pdf |publisher=[[Supreme Court of the United States]] |via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref><ref name="Gratz">{{cite web |date=2003 |title=U.S. Reports: Gratz ''et al.'' v. Bollinger ''et al.'', 539 U.S. 234 |url=http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep539/usrep539244/usrep539244.pdf |publisher=[[Supreme Court of the United States]] |via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref><ref name="PICS">[[Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1]] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-908.pdf</ref> 

==Outline==

A color-blind society, in [[sociology]], is one in which [[racial classification]] does not affect a person's socially created opportunities. A racially color blind society is or would be free from differential legal or social treatment based on [[Race (human categorization)|race]] or color. A color-blind society would have race-neutral governmental policies and would reject all racial discrimination.

Racial color blindness reflects a societal ideal that skin color is insignificant. The ideal was most articulated "along with the emergence of the [[Civil Rights Movement]] in the US and [[anti-racist]] movements abroad".<ref name="Ansell 2013">{{cite book |last=Ansell |first=Amy Elizabeth |title=Race and Ethnicity: The Key Concepts |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-41-533794-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8_y3Q6fzgQAC&q=%22color%20blindness%22 |page=42}}</ref> [[Diversity ideologies|Color-blind ideology]] is based on tenets of non-discrimination, [[due process]] of law, [[equal protection]] under the law, and [[equal opportunities]] regardless of race, ideas which have strongly influenced Western [[liberalism]] in the post-World War II period.{{sfnp|Ansell|2013|pp=42–3}}

Proponents of "color-blind" practices largely believe that treating people equally as individuals leads to a more equal society or that racism and race privilege no longer exercise the power they once did, rendering the need for policies such as race-based [[affirmative action]] obsolete.<ref name="Amy Stuart Wells 33">{{cite book |last1=Stuart Wells |first1=Amy |title=Both Sides Now: The Story of School Desegregation's Graduates |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2009 |page=33 |isbn=978-0-52-025678-1}}</ref>

==Support==

Professor [[William Julius Wilson]] of Harvard University has argued that "class was becoming more important than race" in determining life prospects within the black community.<ref name="William Julius Wilson">{{cite news |publisher=PBS |title=Interview William Julius Wilson |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/interviews/wilson.html |access-date=December 29, 2013 |year=1997 |work=Frontline}}</ref> 
Wilson has published several works including ''The Declining Significance of Race'' (1978) and ''The Truly Dis-advantaged'' (1987) explaining his views on black poverty and racial inequality. He believes that [[affirmative action]] primarily benefits the most privileged individuals within the black community. This is because strictly race-based programs disregard a candidate's socioeconomic background and therefore fail to help the poorer portion of the black community that actually needs the assistance.<ref name="William Julius Wilson"/> He claims that in a society where millions of black people live in the middle and upper classes and millions of white people live in poverty, race is no longer an accurate indication of privilege. Recognizing someone's social class is more important than recognizing someone's race, indicating that society should be class-conscious, not race-conscious, Wilson argues.

In his famous 1963 speech "[[I Have a Dream]]", [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] proclaimed, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." This statement was widely interpreted as an endorsement of color-blind racial ideology.<ref>{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Martin Luther |title=I Have A Dream |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/mlk01.asp |website=The Avalon Project |publisher=Yale Law School |access-date=28 April 2022}}</ref> Roger Clegg, the President of the Center for Equal Opportunity, felt that this quotation supported the idea that race-conscious and equal opportunity should not exist, as he believes people should not be treated differently based on the color of their skin. However, not all agreed with this interpretation. American author Michael Eric Dyson felt that Dr. King only believed in the possibility of a color-blind society under the condition that racism and oppression were ultimately destroyed.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Babbitt, Laura G. |author2=Toosi, Negin R. |author3=Sommers, Samuel R. |author1-link=A Broad and Insidious Appeal: Unpacking the Reasons for Endorsing Racial Color Blindness |editor1-last=Neville |editor1-first=Helen A. |editor2-last=Gallardo |editor2-first=Miguel E. |editor3-last=Sue |editor3-first=Derald Wing |title=The Myth of Racial Color Blindness: Manifestations, Dynamics, and Impact |date=2016 |publisher=American Psychological Association |pages=53–64 |chapter=3}}</ref>

Supreme Court Justice [[Clarence Thomas]] has supported color-blind policies. He believes the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] forbids consideration of race, such as race-based affirmative action or preferential treatment. He believes that race-oriented programs create "a cult of victimization" and imply black people require "special treatment in order to succeed".<ref name="Nobody Knows">{{cite news |work=CBS News |title=Clarence Thomas: The Justice Nobody Knows |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clarence-thomas-the-justice-nobody-knows/ |date=September 27, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{caselaw source |case=''Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña'', 515 U.S. 200 (1995) |findlaw=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=515&page=200 |justia=http://supreme.justia.com/us/515/200/case.html |other_source1=LII |other_url1=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?515+200}}</ref>

When defending new voting rights bills in 2020, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Texas legislators claimed that since the process they wanted to establish for voter registration did not involve different processes for people of different races and did not involve collecting information about race or ethnicity, their new requirements for eligibility to vote were "color blind" and should not be considered racially discriminatory.<ref name="Ura">{{Cite web |last=Ura |first=Alexa |date=April 9, 2021 |title=Texas Republicans say their proposed voting restrictions are color blind. But many see 'Jim Crow in a tuxedo'. |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/09/Texas-voting-GOP-suppression/ |access-date=May 1, 2021| website=[[The Texas Tribune]]}}</ref>

Some argue that the existence of majority-majority and majority-minority areas are not the result of racial discrimination and that this viewpoint ignores the possibility of other factors underlying [[residential segregation]] such as the attitude of realtors, bankers, and sellers.<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2001">{{cite book |last=Bonilla-Silva |first=Eduardo |title=White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-58826-032-1 |editor-last=Bonilla-Silva |editor-first=Eduardo |pages=137–166 |contribution=Color-blind racism: toward an analysis of white racial ideology}}</ref>

While the field of [[whiteness studies]] often discusses alleged failures of racial color blindness, it has been criticized for its focus on reprimanding the white population, whereas similar fields such as [[black studies]], [[women's studies]], and [[Chicano studies]] celebrate the contributions of the eponymous group.<ref name="Fears">{{cite news |last1=Fears |first1=Darryl |date=20 June 2003 |title=Hue and cry on 'whiteness studies' |page=A1 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/06/20/hue-and-cry-on-whiteness-studies/4bd3161e-4a13-474b-977b-b3373f566e09/ |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Among conservative presidents, color blindness as an idea has increased in the late 20th century as well as in the 21st century.<ref name="Holmes 2007">{{Cite journal |last=Holmes |first=David G. |date=2007 |title=Affirmative Reaction: Kennedy, Nixon, King, and the Evolution of Color-Blind Rhetoric |journal=Rhetoric Review |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=25–41 |doi=10.1080/07350190709336684 |jstor=20176758 |s2cid=144516819 |issn=0735-0198}}</ref>

Where racial disparities were once explained in terms of biology, they are now being discussed in terms of culture. "Culture" in this framework is seen as something fixed and hard to change.<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2001" /> One example form of rhetoric used in this framework is the argument, "if Irish, [[Jew]]s (or other ethnic groups) have 'made it', how come black people have not?"<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2004">{{Cite journal |last1=Bonilla-Silva |first1=Eduardo |last2=Lewis |first2=Amanda |last3=Embrick |first3=David G. |date=December 2004 |title=I did not get that job because of a black man...!: the story lines and testimonies of color-blind racism |journal=Sociological Forum |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=555–581 |doi=10.1007/s11206-004-0696-3 |s2cid=143829833}}</ref>

Some supporters of racial color blindness argue racial inequality can be supported by relying on cultural, rather than biological, explanations such as "this race has too many babies". Some no longer view racism as a problem under this belief and see government programs targeting race as no longer necessary due to the avoidance of racism.{{sfnp|Bonilla-Silva|2010|pp=28–30}} Bonilla-Silva describes ''naturalization'' as a frame that portrays racism as a natural outcome of individuals' choices, and "just the way things are". While Bonna-Silva himself disagrees with these as "minimization of racism", these are views common among supporters of racial color blindness.

In response to the global [[Black Lives Matter]] movement, the phrase [[All Lives Matter]] came into being as a term for racial color blindness. Several notable individuals have supported All Lives Matter, such as [[NFL]] cornerback [[Richard Sherman (American football)|Richard Sherman]] who said, "I stand by what I said that All Lives Matter and that we are human beings."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Samuel |first1=Ebenezer |title=Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman explains why he stands by that All Lives Matter |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/richard-sherman-explains-stands-lives-matter-article-1.2728272 |work=[[New York Daily News|Daily News]] |date=July 27, 2016 |location=New York |access-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref> A 2015 telephone poll in the US found that 78% of respondents said that "all lives matter" was closest to their own personal views.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2015/black_lives_matter_or_all_lives_matter |title=Black Lives Matter Or All Lives Matter? |date=August 20, 2015 |publisher=[[Rasmussen Reports]] |access-date=July 14, 2016}}</ref> Despite this, the term was criticized by professor [[David Theo Goldberg]] as reflecting a view of "racial dismissal, ignoring, and denial."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why 'Black Lives Matter' Because All Lives Don't Matter in America |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-theo-goldberg/why-black-lives-matter_b_8191424.html |website=HuffPost |access-date=November 18, 2015 |date=September 25, 2015 |last=Goldberg |first=David Theo |author-link=David Theo Goldberg}}</ref>

==Criticism==

In 1997, Leslie G. Carr published ''Color-Blind Racism'' which reviewed the history of racist ideologies in America. He saw "color-blindness" as an ideology that undercuts the legal and political foundation of [[racial integration]] and affirmative action.<ref name="Carr 1997">{{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=L.G. |title='Color-Blind' Racism. |date=1997 |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-0443-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/colorblindracism0000carr/mode/1up |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2021}}  

Stephanie M. Wildman's ''Privilege Revealed: How Invisible Preference Undermines America'', writes that advocates of a meritocratic, race-free worldview do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which benefit them, such as social and financial inheritance. She argues that this inheritance privileges "whiteness", "maleness", and [[heterosexuality]] while disadvantaging descendants of slaves.<ref name="Wildman 1996">{{cite book |last=Wildman |first=Stephanie M. |title=Privilege revealed : how invisible preference undermines America |url=https://archive.org/details/privilegereveale00wild/mode/1up |publisher=New York University Press |edition=1st |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8147-9303-9 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2021}}

Sociologist Ginger Jacobson criticized color-blind ideology as enabling [[Institutional racism|systemic racism]] by permitting members of a hierarchical society to deny the obstacles people who are on the lower end of that hierarchy face.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Jacobson |first=Ginger |date=2015 |title=Racial Formation Theory and Systemic Racism in Hip-Hop Fans' Perceptions |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43654135 |journal=Sociological Forum |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=832–851 |doi=10.1111/socf.12186 |jstor=43654135 |issn=0884-8971|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Sociologist [[Eduardo Bonilla-Silva]] writes that majority groups use color-blindness to avoid discussing racism and discrimination.<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2014">{{cite book |title=Racism Without Racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States |last=Bonilla-Silva |first=Eduardo |date=2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-44-222055-3 |edition=4th |pages=101–102}}</ref> This is supported by sociologist Jason Rodriquez who writes that color-blindness is a way to disconnect race from discussions of inequality in society.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Rodriquez |first=Jason |date=2006-12-01 |title=Color-Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip-Hop |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891241606286997 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography |language=EN |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=645–668 |doi=10.1177/0891241606286997 |issn=0891-2416|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Within a color-blind society, majority groups also tend to disconnect from their own race as a way of absolving blame of harm caused by their place in a hierarchy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Amanda E. |date=2004-12-01 |title="What Group?" Studying Whites and Whiteness in the Era of "Color-Blindness"* |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.0735-2751.2004.00237.x |journal=Sociological Theory |language=EN |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=623–646 |doi=10.1111/j.0735-2751.2004.00237.x |issn=0735-2751|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Color-blindness can be seen as a way to undermine minority hardships, as it used to argue that the United States is a [[meritocracy]], in which people succeed only because they work hard and not their privilege.<ref name="Gallagher 2003">{{cite journal |author=Gallagher, Charles A. |date=2003 |title=Color-Blind Privilege: The Social and Political Functions of Erasing the Color Line in Post Race America |journal=Race, Gender & Class |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=22–37 |jstor=41675099}}</ref> John R. Logan has disagreed with this notion of meritocracy, as the average black or Hispanic household earning more than $75,000 still live in a less affluent neighborhood than a white household earning less than $40,000 and poverty rates are higher for minorities.<ref name="Ellis 2015">{{Cite journal |last=Ellis |first=Glenn |date=December 2015 |title=Sobering numbers on kids, poverty, race |journal=Philadelphia Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1757017932}} }}</ref><ref name="Logan 2011">{{Cite report |last=Logan |first=John R. |date=July 2011 |title=Separate and Unequal: The Neighborhood Gap for Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in Metropolitan America |url=https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/Diversity/Data/Report/report0727.pdf |publisher=Brown University}}</ref> 

Amy Ansell of [[Bard College]] argues that color-blindness operates under the assumption that we are living in a world that is "[[post-race]]", where race no longer matters.<ref name="Ansell 2006">{{cite journal |last=Ansell |first=Amy E. |title=Casting a blind eye: the ironic consequences of color-blindness in South Africa and the United States |journal=Critical Sociology |volume=32 |issue=2–3 |pages=333–356 |date=March 2006 |doi=10.1163/156916306777835349|s2cid=143485250}}</ref> She argues this is not true and if it was that race would not be taken into consideration even when trying to address inequality or remedy past wrongs.<ref name="Doane 2006">{{cite journal |last=Doane |first=Ashley |title=What is racism? Racial discourse and racial politics |journal=Critical Sociology |volume=32 |issue=2–3 |pages=255–274 |date=March 2006 |doi=10.1163/156916306777835303 |s2cid=144244399}}</ref>

Abstract liberalism utilizes themes from political and [[economic liberalism]], such as meritocracy and the [[free market]], to argue against the strong presence of racism.<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2003">{{cite book |last=Bonilla-Silva |first=Eduardo |chapter='New racism,' color-blind racism, and the future of whiteness in America |editor-last1=Bonilla-Silva |editor-first1=Eduardo |editor-last2=Doane |editor-first2=Ashley W. |title=White out: the continuing significance of racism |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-0-415-93583-8 |pages=271–284}}</ref> Some suggest it results in people being for equality in principle but against government action to implement equality, described by some sociologists as [[laissez-faire racism]].

Robert D. Reason and Nancy J. Evans outline a similar description of color-blindness, which is based on four beliefs: 1. Privilege is based on merit. 2. Most do not care about a person's race. 3. Social inequality is due to "cultural deficits" of individual people. 4. Given the previous three beliefs, there is no need to pay "systematic attention" to any current inequities. They argue the prevalence of color-blindness is attributed to lack of knowledge or lack of exposure. They argue that due to racial separation in housing and education many Americans lack direct contact with present racism.<ref name="Reason">{{cite journal |last1=Reason |first1=Robert D. |first2=Nancy J. |last2=Evans |date=Winter 2007 |title=The complicated realities of whiteness: from color blind to racially cognizant |journal=New Directions for Student Services |volume=2007 |issue=120 |pages=67–75 |doi=10.1002/ss.258}}</ref>

In ''Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society'', Christopher Doob argues that racial color blindness's proponents "assert...that they are living in a world where racial privilege no longer exists, but their behavior 'supports' racialized structures and practices".<ref name="Doob 2003">{{cite book |last=Doob |first=Christopher B. |title=Social Inequality and Social Stratification in U.S. Society |publisher=Pearson |location=Upper Saddle River, N.J. |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-20-579241-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u85zCgAAQBAJ&q=%22racial+privilege%22&pg=PT445}}</ref> This assertion has allowed proponents of racial color blindness to define and separate themselves from racialized structures by using coded language, while also not needing to address race.<ref name=":2" /> Effectively, this argued for the separation of race and class in the beliefs of these proponents.

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva has argued racial color blindness is insufficient to address racial inequality.<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2010">{{cite book |last=Bonilla-Silva |first=Eduardo |title=Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America |date=2010 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-44-220218-4 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gV-NL8EJI7UC |pages=26–28}}</ref> He argues it involves egalitarianism while opposing concrete proposals to reduce inequality. He has argued it ignores the under-representation of minorities in prestigious institutions, along with institutional practices that encourage segregation. 

Eberhardt, Davies, Purdie-Vaughns, and Johnson studied implicit racial biases, suggesting people react differently to faces of members of their race compared to members of other races.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jones, James M. |author1-link=The Color Blind Racial Approach: Does Race Really Matter? |editor1-last=Neville |editor1-first=Helen A. |editor2-last=Gallardo |editor2-first=Miguel E. |editor3-last=Sue |editor3-first=Derald Wing |title=The Myth of Racial Color Blindness: Manifestations, Dynamics, and Impact |date=2016 |publisher=American Psychological Association |language=en}}</ref> They found a correlation between race and judicial outcomes and suggest a color blind approach may not actually be possible.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eberhardt |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Davies |first2=Paul G. |last3=Purdie-Vaughns |first3=Valerie J. |last4=Johnson |first4=Sheri Lyn |title=Looking Deathworthy: Perceived Stereotypicality of Black Defendants Predicts Capital-Sentencing Outcomes |journal=Psychological Science |date=2006 |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=383–386|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01716.x |pmid=16683924 |s2cid=15737940 }}</ref>

==Research==
{{More science citations needed|section|date=September 2017}}

Fryer et al. argued that color-blind affirmative action is about as efficient as race-conscious affirmative action in the short run but is less profitable{{clarify|date=March 2024}} in the long term.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last1=Fryer|first1=R. G.|last2=Loury|first2=G. C.|last3=Yuret|first3=T.|date=29 November 2007|title=An Economic Analysis of Color-Blind Affirmative Action|journal=[[Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization]]|volume=24|issue=2|pages=319–355|doi=10.1093/jleo/ewm053|author-link1=Roland Fryer|citeseerx=10.1.1.169.4230}}</ref>

In 2010, Apfelbaum et al. exposed elementary school students to color-blind ideology and found that those students were less likely to detect or report overt racial discrimination. The authors argued racial color blindness allows overt racism to persist."<ref name="Apfelbaum 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Apfelbaum |first1=E. P. |last2=Pauker |first2=K. |last3=Sommers |first3=S. R. |last4=Ambady |first4=N. |title=In Blind Pursuit of Racial Equality? |journal=Psychological Science |date=28 September 2010 |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=1587–1592 |doi=10.1177/0956797610384741 |pmid=20876878 |citeseerx=10.1.1.418.9317 |s2cid=11580845}}</ref>

Research has found that color-blindness is used as a way for white Americans to justify adopting cultural symbols and signifiers belonging to [[people of color]]. This has been analyzed through white Americans appropriation of hip-hop culture using the method of participant observation. When looking at reasons for this behavior, it was found white Americans wanted to obtain characteristics of blackness commonly seen as 'cool.'<ref name=":1" /> Many white hip-hop consumers used color-blind reasoning that justified their participation in hip-hop culture and spaces, even when those spaces explicitly pointed out racial differences, in which they exhibited what Bonilla-Silva calls "race talk," where white people use specific rhetoric to address racial topics without explicitly mentioning race.<ref name="Bonilla-Silva 2010" />

Amy Ansell, a sociologist at [[Bard College]], has compared and contrasted the development of the color-blindness in the United States and South Africa. Given that white people are a minority population in South Africa and a majority population in the United States, Ansell expected to see a significant difference in the manifestation of color-blindness in both countries. The thirty-year time difference between the departure from Jim Crow and cessation of [[apartheid]] and differences in racial stratification and levels of poverty also led Ansell to expect a clear difference between the colorblindness ideology in the United States and South Africa. However, she concludes contemporary color-blindness in the two countries is nearly identical.<ref name="Ansell 2006"/>

Vorauer, Gagnon, and Sasaki examined the effect that messages with a color-blind ideology had on white Canadians entering one-on-one interactions with Aboriginal Canadians. White Canadians who heard messages emphasizing color-blind ideology were much more likely to be concerned with ensuring the subsequent interaction did not go badly and were more likely hostile, uncomfortable, and uncertain.<ref name="Vorauer">Vorauer, Jacquie D., Gagnon, Annette, & Sasaki, Stacey J. (2009). Salient Intergroup Ideology and Intergroup Interaction. Psychological Science, 20, 838-845. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02369.x</ref> White participants who heard messages emphasizing multicultural ideology, or the valuing of people's differences, asked more positive questions focused on the other person more relaxedly.<ref name="Vorauer" />

==Alternatives==

Researchers also offer alternatives to the color-blindness discourse. Reason and Evans call for people to become "racially cognizant" and continuously acknowledge the role that race plays in their lives. They argue it is important to balance personal identity and a person's race.<ref name="Reason"/>

Researcher Jennifer Simpson argued that "in setting aside color blindness, White [people] must learn to see, accept...the possibility that some of the good, ease, or rewards they have experienced have not been solely the result of hard work" but from "a system biased in their favor." This conscious exploration of whiteness as a racial and social identity and the acknowledgment of the role of whiteness is connected to modern [[whiteness studies]].<ref name="Simpson">{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2885.2007.00317.x |last=Simpson |first=Jennifer Lyn |date=February 2008 |title=The color-blind double bind: whiteness and the (im)possibility of dialogue |journal=Communication Theory |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=139–159}}</ref>

In a recent publication of the academic journal ''Communication Theory'', Jennifer Simpson proposed a "more productive dialogue about race". New dialogue must take a more complex look at race, openly looking at different perspectives on race. Simpson argues white people must engage with other races in discussing the ongoing effects of racism, requiring white people to participate in "communicative behavior that may threaten simultaneously their sense of self and their material power in the social order".<ref name="Simpson"/>

==In education==
A multisite case study of Atlantic State University, a primarily white institution, and Mid-Atlantic State University, a [[historically black college]], explored color-blind ideologies among the institutions' white faculty members at the undergraduate and graduate level.<ref name="McCoy">McCoy, D. L., Winkle-Wagner, R., & Luedke, C. L. (2015). Colorblind mentoring? Exploring white faculty mentoring of students of color. Journal Of Diversity In Higher Education, 8, 225-242. [[doi:10.1037/a0038676]]</ref> In interviews with white faculty members at both institutions, researchers found these faculties often engaged with students from a color-blind perspective. Avoiding racial terms while implying their equivalent allowed white faculty to label minority students "as academically inferior, less prepared, and less interested in pursuing research and graduate studies while potentially ignoring structural causes" of inequity.<ref name="McCoy"/> The study concludes that color-blind ideology held by school faculty can reduce a student of color's perception of their academic abilities and potential to achieve success in [[Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics|STEM]] disciplines and in graduate school.

A case study of a suburban, mixed-race high school examined the trend toward color-blind ideology in schools among white faculty.<ref name="Modica 2015">{{cite journal |last1=Modica |first1=Marianne |title=Unpacking the 'colorblind approach': accusations of racism at a friendly, mixed-race school |journal=Race Ethnicity and Education |date=2015 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=396–418 |doi=10.1080/13613324.2014.985585|s2cid=144180704 }}</ref> It argued white schoolteachers' color-blind ideology often masks their fears of being accused of racism and prevents a deeper examination of race.

Case studies of three large school districts, (Boston, Massachusetts; Wake County, North Carolina; and Jefferson County, Louisville) found that the districts' race-neutral, or color-blind, policies to combat school segregation may disadvantage minorities and "reframe privilege as common sense" while ignoring [[Structural inequality in education|structural inequalities]].<ref name="McDermott 2015">{{cite journal |last1=McDermott |first1=Kathryn A. |last2=Frankenberg |first2=Erica |last3=Diem |first3=Sarah |title=The 'Post-Racial' Politics of Race: Changing Student Assignment Policy in Three School Districts |journal=Educational Policy |date=May 2015 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=504–554 |doi=10.1177/0895904813510775|s2cid=145014408 }}</ref>

== In U.S. Supreme Court opinions ==
{{further|Constitutional colorblindness}}
In his dissenting opinion to ''[[Plessy v. Ferguson]]'' (1896), Justice [[John Marshall Harlan]] wrote that "Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved."<ref name=Plessy/> His opinion could thus be interpreted as saying that laws should not differentiate between people of different races. His opinion was not the majority-supported decision, which at the time was that laws requiring [[racial segregation]] were allowable, establishing the idea that "[[separate but equal]]" treatment was constitutionally acceptable.

More recently, the term ''color blind'' has appeared in United States Supreme Court opinions involving affirmative action, in opinions that support consideration of race when evaluating laws and their effects:
* In a concurring opinion of ''[[Regents of the University of California v. Bakke|Regents v. Bakke]]'' (1978), Justices [[William J. Brennan Jr.]], [[Byron White]], [[Thurgood Marshall]], and [[Harry Blackmun]] objected to the ''color blind'' term, writing that "we cannot ... let color blindness become [[myopia]] which masks the reality that many 'created equal' have been treated within our lifetimes as inferior both by the law and by their fellow citizens."<ref name=Bakke/>
*In her dissenting opinion to ''[[Gratz v. Bollinger]]'' (2003), Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] quoted from a 1966 5th Circuit decision:{{which|date=March 2022}} {{"'}}The Constitution is both color blind and color conscious. To avoid conflict with the equal protection clause, a classification that denies a benefit, causes harm, or imposes a burden must not be based on race. In that sense, the Constitution is color blind. But the Constitution is color conscious to prevent discrimination being perpetuated and to undo the effects of past discrimination.{{'"}}<ref name=Gratz/>
*In his concurring opinion to ''[[Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1|PICS v. Seattle]]'' (2007), Justice [[Clarence Thomas]] wrote that "the color-blind Constitution does not bar the government from taking measures to remedy past state-sponsored discrimination{{snd}} indeed, it requires that such measures be taken in certain circumstances."<ref name=PICS/>
In [[Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard]] (2023), the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in college admissions, effectively overruling ''[[Grutter v. Bollinger]]'' (2003)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=Bill |date=August 25, 2023 |title=Did the Court in SFFA Overrule Grutter? |url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=4549567 |journal=Notre Dame Law Review Reflection |issue=99 |via=SSRN}}</ref> and ''[[Regents of the University of California v. Bakke|Regents v. Bakke]]'' (1978).<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-06-29 |title=Affirmative action: Supreme Court justices clash over 'colourblind' America |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66058664 |access-date=2024-10-09 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas affirmed his "defense of the colorblind Constitution" and argued that "all forms of discrimination based on race — including so-called affirmative action — are prohibited under the Constitution".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-01 |title='Colorblind Constitution': Supreme Court wrangles over the future of race in the law |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/colorblind-constitution-supreme-court-wrangles-future-race-law-rcna90661 |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Gender-blind]]
* [[Post-racial America]]
* [[Constitutional colorblindness]]
* [[White privilege]]
* [[Whiteness theory]]
* [[Equalized odds]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book |last=Alexander |first=Michelle |title=The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness |date=2012 |publisher=New Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-59-558643-8 |edition=revised}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michael K. |display-authors=etal |title=Whitewashing Race: The myth of a color-blind society |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-52-024475-7}}
* {{cite web |last=Burrowes |first=Philip |title=A Look at Color-Blindness |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V122/N3/col122-3ph.3c.html |website=The Tech |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |date=12 February 2002}}
* {{cite journal |last=Jakubowski |first=Dawn |title=The Rhetoric Of Color-Blindness |date=2004 |journal=NAAAS Conference Proceedings |pages=1230–1242 |oclc=664590421}}
* {{cite journal |last=Lo |first=Marie |title=Blinded by colorblindness |journal=The Asian Reporter |date=2015 |pages=6–7 |id={{ProQuest|1654867222}} }}
* {{cite journal |last=Mueller |first=Jennifer |title=Producing Colorblindness: Everyday Mechanisms of White Ignorance |journal=Social Problems |date=2017 |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=219–238 |url=https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article/64/2/219/3058571 |doi=10.1093/socpro/spw061 |doi-broken-date=July 10, 2025}}
* {{cite web |last=Scruggs |first=Afi-Odelia E. |title=Colorblindness: the New Racism? |url=https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2009/colorblindness-the-new-racism |website=Teaching Tolerance |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |location=Montgomery, Ala. |date=2009}}
* {{cite journal |last=Sinckler |first=Latjona |title=And the Oscar Goes to; Well, It Can't Be You, Can It: A Look at Race-Based Casting and How it Legalizes Racism, Despite Title VII Laws |journal=The American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law |date=2014 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=857–891 |url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ajgsp22&div=32&id=&page=}} [http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1646&context=jgspl Full text]
* {{cite journal |last=Sun |first=William H. |title=Power and Problems of Performance across Ethnic Lines, An Alternative Approach to Nontraditional Casting |journal=TDR/The Drama Review |date=December 2000 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=86–95 |doi=10.1162/10542040051058492 |s2cid=11510433 |url=http://www.csun.edu/~vcspc00g/603/sunoncasting.pdf}} Examines racial and ethnic considerations in theatrical role casting.
* {{cite magazine |last=Wingfield |first=Adia Harvey |title=Color-Blindness Is Counterproductive |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/color-blindness-is-counterproductive/405037/ |magazine=The Atlantic |date=13 September 2015}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
<!-- dead link * [http://www.utdallas.edu/research/greenctr/Papers/pdfpapers/paper33.html Affirmative Access vs. Affirmative Action: How have Texas's race-blind policies affected college outcomes?] -->
<!-- dead link * [http://www.system.missouri.edu/planning/reports/diverse.pdf Can Race-blind Policies Produce a Diverse Student Body?]--> 
<!-- dead link * [http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/04/01/magnet01.shtml Race-blind lottery chooses fewer blacks for magnet schools] -->
* [http://www.americantheatre.org/2016/01/07/standing-up-for-playwrights-and-against-colorblind-casting/ Standing Up for Playwrights and Against ‘Colorblind’ Casting] ''American Theatre'', Theatre Communications Group

{{DEFAULTSORT:Color Blindness (Race)}}
{{Racism}}
{{Discrimination}}

[[Category:Politics and race in the United States]]
[[Category:Affirmative action in the United States]]
[[Category:Race in the United States]]
[[Category:Color blindness]]