Color-Blind Racism

“Obama, his campaign, and his ‘success’ are the outcome of forty years of racial transition from the Jim Crow racial order to the racial regime (that the author refers) to as ‘new racism,’” (p.259). In other words, Obama getting elected wasn’t some sort of miracle; it’s been an occurrence a long time in the making. It also does not show “how far we’ve come as a nation.” In fact, since Obama’s start in 2008, racism has remained firmly in place, and has even become a more daunting of an obstacle to overcome. There are now more obstacles to overcome race issues because now, with a black man in the highest position in the world, whites can say, “Look, there really is no more racism.” This, in combination with Obama’s color-blind attitude, will

It is important to recognize that race is still a major factor in people’s life chances, though, so Bonilla-Silva gives some strategies to use to fight color-blind racism’s erasure of race. The author first calls on the blacks and their allies to start a new civil rights movement that calls out the new form of racism. Second, antiracist whites need to be encouraged to start challenging color-blindness when they see it happening within their race. This step also includes persuading working class whites to join the movement. Third, researchers and activists need to provide counter-ideological arguments to each of color-blind racism’s frames. For example, abstract liberalism needs to be countered with concrete liberal positions. Next, whites have to be exposed to the myth of color blindness and called out for the ways in which they help its advancement. Going off of that, and fifth, whites must be challenged wherever color-blind racism exists, such as motivating themselves to engage with minorities or move to a more integrated neighborhood. Lastly, Bonilla-Silva says that to fight this new form of racism, people must become militant again so that a new, in-your-face movement will spark the change that is

By the end of the book, I was thinking, “Wow, our future is not looking too bright,” so I am glad he recognized this and included ways in which people can change in which direction the country is going. The study included a diverse sample group, but I think expanding the study out more to different areas of the U.S. would be beneficial, as well. I also wish he included more black reaction instead of just the one chapter so that people could see more into how blacks feel racism is affecting their lives. Additionally, while expanding upon the chapter on other races would have made for a too “all over the place” book, I would be interested in looking into a similarly conducted study of people of other races. After all, is we are heading to a more Latin America-like racial system, I think understanding the oppressions and feelings of other groups is important. Because this study is mainly about the black/white structure America currently has, though, I understand why more was not written on it in this