Color-Blind Privilege Blog #9

The dominant view in the United States s that we are now a color-blind

Nation. Rap and hip-hop are thoroughly mainstream commodities available

For sale in every mall across the country. Celebrities, CEOs, high-Level politicians,

and opinion makers are drawn from every racial and ethnic group, as

If race no longer mattered. Charles A. Gallagher argues that the story of

color-blindness promoted in the mass media disguises a more troubling reality:

Continued racial inequality.

              Although Barack Obama’s election was a landmark accomplishment for African Americans in the U.S., his election also raised the question about the roles of race in America. It lead many to believe race no longer mattered in the U.S. thus, emerged the post-racial concept, which held the belief that race was not a factor in deciding your quality of life or opportunities in America. In the article “Color Blind Privilege” by Charles A. Gallagher, he expressed concern about belief that racial equality has been achieved in the U.S. but, with some minor caveats, what has moved to center stage in our national dialogue on race is the idea that the goals of civil rights movements have been achieved, with Exhibit A being the elections of the first black man as president.

 White Americans can point to president “Obama as proof of this new racial Egalitarianism, Gallagher counters the idea that America has become a color-blind nation by explaining that every quality of life indicator (on health, employment, incarceration, longevity, etc.) Varies by race, “with racial minorities being at the bottom of barrel” Yet, intersely enough Americans viewing color-blind as an accepted social fact, race-conscious policies and action may be construed as reverse racism against whites. 

Honestly it’s next to impossible to change the mind of people who don’t want their minds changed. There’s indisputable facts that “In every Quality of life indicator (health, employment, etc.) Varies by race. Countless advertisement, television shows, movies and other images of race in the media seem to suggest that racism is done and over, or at least “America is on the verge, or has already become, a truly color-blind nation” This belief system is the basis for white outrage over affirmative action and claims of jobs discrimination. Whites who believes the social economics is fair and balanced find satisfaction and comfort in their position of privilege, believing them to have been earned legitimately. This ideology that America has to go if we ever expect to really move forward, we must first deal with the pass and the truth that is standing bare naked in front of our eyes..