5/27/25
Deconstructing Privilege Teaching and Learning as Allies in the Classroom:
"Colorblindness is the New Racism" Raising Awareness about Privilege Using Color Insight.
By: M.J. Armstrong and S.M. Wildman
Website: All Lives Matter 9 Reasons Why Saying it is Damaging.
By: The Vox
Color in sight makes you see that color still is an issue, racism has not dismissed at all it just alters it shape form and provisions but it still keeps oppression going in some way even if it is subliminal or a stow-away.
It seems like Armstrong and Wildman are saying that "They"(systemic capitalist) are playing in our face, throwing a bone sends them (minorities) chasing a new faux scent while they (systemic racist) work to bury the scent that matters. Saying All lives matter takes away from black Ives MATTERING and puts a negative spin on the entire cause for Black lives MATTERING needing to be said!
so much of how things are seemingly repaired or on the mend in this world and it is not with solutions but with distraction. Cover ups or refocusing attention elsewhere is how we deal with Racism. Being colorblind is part of the distraction. According to Johnson WE cannot fix what we cannot see or accept as truth. Distractions are not going to lead to a solution or strengthening of a human group.
Things from the reading that make me have this feeling:
The articles made these statements:
1.) Whites consider the disadvantages of being non-white without having to consider the benefits of appearing to be white. Racism does not exist to whites.
When thinking about the Black lives matter articles I see how this plays out. and meshes with the article about colorblindness. "All lives matter" is for the benefit of whites and totally NOT considering the disadvantages of being non-white. The truth of All Black Lives Matter is that Blacks are killed at high rates by police. To diminish and distract a systemic racism pushes "All lives Matter " to not only silence the issue but to also provide a benefit by allowing whites to appear "for unity, all-inclusive" when the underlying story is actually oppressing and poisoning the original message. They hide behind We all Matter ( we care about you BUT) with the reason of acknowledging "Black Lives" could cause disharmony in a justice system that is at the root of the cry for attention to the MATTER!! We are smothered by the distraction, ALL LIVES MATTER, as it is pushed into main stream media what it is not, a cry for ALL LIVES MATTERING. It is really a blind for a real racial issue, that like we learned in Johnson, we don't speak of because it makes people uncomfortable to say Blacks are unfairly being killed by the very country they built.
2.) The contemporary use of colorblindness became an active principle only when government programs that recognized race became perceived as disadvantaging white people.
In my youth development studies I have learned so much about how many of the government programs for "helping" "disadvantaged people" are actually rooted in systemic capitalism and operate to maintain oppression and racism. Housing opportunities for the underprivileged actually keeping "them" corralled in one area and intentionally under-serving that population to preserve poverty.
When opportunities provide for the uplifting of the minority race started producing Financially stable and well off black families, raising minority property ownership and blending more "normally-white" neighborhoods that is when the ideology of "WE DON'T SEE COLOR" came into play sounds great and equal right, but NO it pushes back on diverse hiring and returns the ole practice of "white male leaders" being the standard. Again another distraction. Since Barack Obama became president commentors describe U.S. society as "post racial" as if the election of a Black man to the nation's highest office meant no more conversation about race was needed. This section from the article is an example of how they try to say racism is not a thing, how can it be we had a black president. That is the same thing as saying But I have black friends. I feel like Johnson would want us to consider does having black friends shine light on the white privilege you enjoy and what are you doing about that. How are you bringing that color sight to the table of your white friends?!
3.) No person is purely privileged or unprivileged in respect to some categories and not privileged in respect to others. This section of the Colorblindness article made me think of these things: Are "they" afraid to realize they are privileged because your privilege comes from the intentional dehumanization of another human. If acknowledging privilege is uncomfortable; then that says to me that what you have is ILL gotten because you are avoiding the raw ugly reality of how it was gained. Are you really a moral good person if you pretend to address racism. Privilege=oppression and we all participate in it. Blacks allowing the conversation to be distracted is participating in privilege. We are in our own way of finding a solution if we do not HAVE the uncomfortable conversation in education, in communities and in the justice system. To live in a world that has a justice system that mainly targets you to fail is not a FREE life. We need to start unlocking racism in our education and in the law structure of our country many policies and laws are way over due to be revisited and rewritten by a diverse group that represents the population the "melting pot" of the United States.
This may equal somebody's giving up some things, we have all had to sacrifice and we have continued (past and present tense) to overcome why can't they? maybe because they did not earn what they have and without it have no idea how to survive because everyone else has always done the "work". How do you do the job if someone else took the class.
But this makes me ask why we are so easily guided away from the truth. How do we still not have the power to see through the haze? HOW DOES DISTRACTION KEEP WINNING?
Where are they hiding the "Kryptonite" that keeps us weak and digging up the truth and keeping it surface for disposal?
I immediately thought of what my grandfather said to me as a child. Never accept anything told to you as the truth there is usually always a underlying reality to anything "given to" or "done for us". Look for the unspoken story and then decide what you believe.
Reading Colorblindness brought me back to this lesson from my grandfather, So much in our world is made to help us and give us the opportunity but yet it is actually maintaining the foot on our necks. It is like putting a beautiful frosting over a moldy cake so you do not have to realize your enjoying something really disgusting and nasty. That is what All lives matter does is cover up the fact that Black lives do not and have never mattered. PERIOD. Why can't that just be the end of the sentence.
Like my mom always says THE TRUTH HURTS BUT YOU HAVE TO HEAR IT TO DEAL WITH IT!!!!!
I love your statement of "Are 'they' afraid to realize they are privileged because your privilege comes from the intentional dehumanization of another human." I think that is definitely a big part of the underlying problem for a lot of people who refuse to acknowledge racial disparities and their privilege. The shame that would be associated with willingly (willfully) participating in a system that puts others down to exalt yourself is not only inhumane but means that those people think they're more valuable than other human beings.
ReplyDeleteI also used the "post-racial" quote. I thought society would embrace that we (The US) were moving forward and elected a black president. It didn't mean racism was over; we were pushing forward. However, we still seem to be in the same position; we went back even further into the past with the current administration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement of unlocking racism in education. I thonk its a big problem. I actually posted a link in my post about teachers and curriculum that are “colorblind”.
ReplyDeleteColorblind really is still an issue that many deny because it debunks efforts by those who think they are eradicating the issue at hand.
ReplyDeleteLove the connections to Johnson, YDEV stuff, Modern Family, etc. I often Use the Ted Talk by Hobson in my undergrad classes!
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