Readings & Videos: Racism & Colorblindness
This section’s readings address intersectional identities and the complexity that comes along with them. I start with Kimberlé Crenshaw’s article because there is an urgency and an importance to the work we are all doing in order to address racial and social inequities. What we do as activists is powerful – we cannot fix the world but we can make immediate impacts in the spaces within which we live and work. That you are reading this now is already an act of resistance and therefore a positive use of your power.
I have included readings on racism in the hope that it provides you with answers to those who claim that racism no longer exists or that we need to be colorblind, and that we’re actually causing problems for calling attention to these matters. The truth is that racism hurts EVERYONE – it has negative material and physical and psychological consequences for all of us.
Kimberlé Crenshaw: “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait”
What to watch for: how race, sex, and class are converging and forming layers of oppression. Awareness of intersectionality can also lead to much-needed transformational movements within social justice.
Beverly Daniel Tatum: “Defining Racism: ‘Can We Talk?’”
What to watch for: Tatum is not claiming that people of color are incapable of beliefs that are hurtful and hateful; Tatum, however, is reserving the term racism to apply to a comprehensive system of advantages that benefits a specific group of people, namely those who are White in the United States. Tatum is not asking whether or not those who are White are racist, but whether or not more White people can be moved toward active anti-racism and away from active or passive racism.
Heather McGhee: “Why saying “I don’t see race at all” just makes racism worse”
What to watch for: One of McGhee’s most powerful points is “Instead of being blind to race, color blindness makes people blind to racism,” and that assertions of colorblindness are used as a tool to prevent progress and change while also fostering denial and accountability. McGhee, a social policy and economic expert, highlights the very literal economic cost of racism.
Please also watch the video ”Why Racism has a Cost for Everyone”
Michelle Alexander: “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”
What to watch for: Alexander examines the role of race in mass incarceration despite assertions of colorblindness. Although the law should suggest neutral policies, Alexander highlights how the War on Drugs actually ensures the unrelenting disenfranchisement of Black men, going well beyond having served their time.