I attended a series of week long courses over the summer at my sister's university Regent College in Vancouver. Due to the pandemic, I accessed all the classes remotely, and I submitted my essays online. When I signed up for the courses, I had planned to do them for credit towards my MA but when I got my course list for my MA I realised there was more courses I wanted to do than credits I have! So I decided to do the courses for credit, not to transfer the credits but to get me back into the university mindset.
I had always planned to publish my essays here when I got them back (if I passed - otherwise I wasn't going to publish that nonsense anywhere!) - but then life happened and I haven't blogged in a while! So this is the first of the three essays.
I took the course Race, Racism and Christian Identity with Dr Elizabeth Y Sung. This was my best course and I received an A grade for it! I wrote two essays for this course, so look out for the second essay here!
For reference - I've kept wider spacing, and references can be found in footnotes at the bottom of the essay.
The key to this book is discovering the definition, history and development of colorblind racism; how it was coined and the many examples of it throughout time. The book also reviews how colorblind racism has overtaken overt racism in the post-Civil Rights era and documents how this impacts society. It takes a realistic view of the actual applications of colorblind racism in society.
Meghan Burke is introducing the theory of ‘colorblind racism’, which is an emergent and pervasive form of racism, specifically in the post-Civil Rights era. Colorblind racism “ asserts that there are no real problems with racism in our society, that challenges stem from individuals rather than our institutions and collective thinking and behavior.”[1] Burke concludes that colorblind racism should not have a place within society.
Dr Meghan Burke is Professor of Sociology at Illinois Wesleyan University. Her background is focused on social theory and race, and this is her third published book. Dr Burke has created a pre-orientation programme for new white students to the university – the course is intended to challenge these students to think about their white privilege and to consider antiracism so they can become partners for social and racial justice. This program proves that Dr Burke works not only on a theoretical basis, but also uses her research in real world applications.
Burke predominantly uses peer-reviewed sources from various journals and books. She does lean heavily on the work of Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, citing many of his publications, though her references are vast. Other references she uses include government works, for instance the Southern Poverty Law Center[2] which tracks hate groups across the USA and breaks down the data by state. Although this is not peer reviewed, it yields fascinating quantitative data covering 21 years of information gathering.
In chapter 1, Burke explains that the original intent of colorblindness is meant to be harmless – that colorblindness creates equality. Burke presents the situation as she sees it through the lens of colorblind racism. The chapter is an introduction using real-world examples of problematic colorblind statements to illustrate the racism hidden within it. The reality is that it does not account for historical imbalances between races. At its worst, it barely covers racist intentions and at its best it is unchallenged ignorance – in all scenarios it only benefits whites, making it clearly a racist ideology.
Burke traces the history of colorblind racism (and also provides a clear visual timeline given as an appendix). The theory of colorblind racism has existed since 1970, though it was not named as such until 1997 by both Leslie G. Carr and Ellis Cose in their respective works.[3]
Burke lays out short points to introduce the topics she will be covering in later chapters, giving the reader a foundation of knowledge before reaching the topic itself. I found this style to be redundant, as often times Burke would include the data given in the introductory chapter in the main chapters themselves.
In chapter 2 Burke investigates the history of colorblind racism. Her main focus is around the pivotal Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. She explains:
“colorblindness refers to the move from overt to covert racist expressions, or from direct to perhaps indirect or even unintentional forms of degradation and/or racial exclusion. It is also reflective of the changing nature of the legal system brought about by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, where institutional forms of racism moved from explicit to tacit forms.”[4]
The focus of this book is predominantly US-based, and this chapter makes that clear. This is predominantly US recent history of racism and how it has evolved over time. Although this is a more recent history, Burke still touches upon pre-Civil Rights racism – including slavery, the Declaration of Independence, and eugenics (relating to the Holocaust and anti-miscegenation laws).
In cataloguing the racial injustices over time and the impact they have had on the individual person of color as well as broader communities, it becomes clear that colorblindness is not an effective solution to racism. If people of color were on a level playing field with whites, then colorblindness is a reasonable response, however, as history shows us there is a huge disparity to the current economic standing between whites and everyone else.
History has largely benefitted whites and to use colorblindness at this stage could be equivalent to matching a world class athlete against an average untrained runner. The result is clear before the race starts, but we suggest that as the two runners are starting the race at the same starting line, then they are equally matched. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the same is true of colorblind racism.
Chapter 3 is devoted to contextualisation of colorblind racism within institutions, law and policy, and culture. After reviewing the history of specifically colorblind racism in the previous chapter, Burke is showing us where we stand now, and how embedded colorblind racism is within many levels of society.
For me, this chapter was overwhelming – there is so much evidence of invasive and corrosive colorblind racism that is persistent within education, workplaces, housing policies and laws, criminal justice, welfare and within neighbourhoods and communities. It feels that there is nowhere “safe” from a negative slant for people of color, but particularly blacks. This shows the success of this chapter challenging my white privilege and my white, often colorblind, views. It also feels crushingly overwhelming – where can one possibly start to fight this insidiously disguised “new” racism? Burke answers this in her conclusion. Again, it is key to point out that this is focussed almost solely within the USA.
In chapter 4, Burke considers the variations in colorblind racism. Other races are not as discriminated against with this lens as blacks, but still experience a different reality than whites. There is also the topic of intersectionality – mixed race marriages and children, and varied ethnic adoption by white couples. Burke also considers intersectional politics – reviewing white communities who work to be antiracist but slip into colorblind racism. Chapter 4 is a discussion on divergence from the norms, and the research cited is fascinating.
In Burke’s conclusion she lays out opportunities for further study and research. She honestly highlights that the “question of how institutions and ideologies can be challenged is, unfortunately, one of the least studied terrains of study in sociology broadly, and in the study of racism specifically.”[5] and adds that this presents an opportunity for further study in this area.
Burke calls attention to another under researched area by pointing to work by Vanessa Gonlin and Mary Campbell. They note “that people of color have been understudied in prior examinations of colorblind ideology, and that closer attention to how distinct groups of people of color navigate colorblind frameworks alongside their racial and other identities is another important direction for new research.”[6]
Beyond identifying areas of further research, Burke draws a conclusion on challenging contemporary racism. Reviewing her work, she suggests that to truly achieve antiracist behaviour, we cannot be colorblind. Burke states that “ acknowledging the existence of a problem is a vital first step toward addressing it.”[7]
This is the antithesis of colorblindness: instead of practicing ignorance of race issues, society should insist upon change. To achieve this, Burke calls on each reader to reflect on their spheres of influence and how they can challenge and create “more racial justice in those spaces.”[8]
The idea of colorblind racism was new to me when I read this book. I understood from the idea of ‘political correctness’ that colorblindness was the desired state to be in. However, understanding the historical and social applications of colorblindness and the danger of it in society has made me reconsider my attitude towards it. On first reading the book, I took the view that I had not taken much away from it – it has only been upon critically reviewing it that I can see the importance of this work.
I initially reflected that Burke had not necessarily added much to the conversation of colorblind racism, but rather pulled the works of other authors together to illustrate the points. However, on reflection, I think there is merit to how Burke has pulled this information together and I feel positively challenged to make changes personally.
My criticism is from a national vs international standpoint. I have taken away a lot of information, particularly on the history of racism within the USA, which was an unknown area for me prior to this. However, I am located in the UK, and although Burke did mention international considerations occasionally (notably UK and Australia), this book was centred around the USA.
As a result of the US-focus of this book, I feel positively challenged, but not positively equipped to make challenges to my peers, as the focus was on race within the USA – there were very few (mostly no) examples of history, institution, culture etc of any country outside the USA. I would be keen to see further information translated to different countries, so the data would be relevant for international readers.
[1] Meghan Burke, Colorblind Racism (Medford, MA: Polity Press, 2019), 1 [2] https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map [3] Burke, Colorblind Racism, 125 [4] Burke, Colorblind Racism, 26 [5] Burke, Colorblind Racism, 119 [6] Burke, Colorblind Racism, 111 [7] Burke, Colorblind Racism, 121 [8] Burke, Colorblind Racism, 123