Color Blind Racism Analysis

In an article written by, Texas A&M University Sociology Professor Eduardo Bonilla-Silva called, The Linguistics of Color Blind Racism: How to Talk Nasty about Blacks without Sounding Racist, Bonilla-Silva carefully explains and analyzes the different tactics employed by whites to make comments with racist undertones without outwardly sounding racist that aid in maintaining the racial ideology known as color blind racism. The basis of Bonilla-Silva’s research was supplied from an array of different people, some being university students from the state of Michigan, and the others being residents of the Detroit metropolitan area, who each then participated in different interviews conducted by various groups. Based on the responses of the interviewees,
Which as a result, aided in the development of the verbal strategies used by whites to voice their positions on race related topics known as “sematic moves”. Which is an example of the meticulous efforts made by whites to avoid blatantly stating their opinions on race. In the subsection of Bonilla-Silva’s research on “sematic moves,” he identified the most commonly used verbal strategies used by whites in post-civil rights race talk. That being stated, after learning about the most commonly used verbal strategies it became apparent to me that the rhetorical strategy used by whites known as the “Anything but race” strategy is embedded heavily in the minds of white America. It is a strategy that “involves interjecting comments such as, “Is not a prejudiced thing” to dismiss the fact that race affects an aspect of the respondent’s life” (Bonilla-Silva 12). Which according to Bonilla-Silva, is a rhetorical method that, “allows whites to smooth out racial fractures in their otherwise color blind story” (12). Bonilla-Silva’s assertion was then later supported based on the responses of the students from the various interviews that were conducted. The general consensus based on the interviewees when they invoked the “Anything but race” rhetorical tactic was that race of an individual held no bearings when applied to events in their life or in the
Rick neglected to acknowledge the systematic racism that runs rampant throughout our country. Systematic racism, which as stated by the Children’s Defense Fund “occurs when the way a society is structured systematically ends up giving advantages to some and disadvantages to others” is a problem that effects so many blacks within the country especially in situations on whether or not you will get hired for a job. In fact, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “by race, whites made up the majority of the labor force (79 percent). Blacks and Asians made up an additional 12 percent and 6 percent, respectively. (2)” While some might disregard this information due to the fact that whites make up the majority of our population and by extension the majority of our workforce, according to Janell Ross – a writer for the online news website the National Journal, “12.4 per¬cent of black col¬lege gradu¬ates between the ages of 22 and 27 were un¬em¬ployed. For all col¬lege gradu¬ates in the same age range, the un¬em¬ploy¬ment rate stood at just 5.6 per¬cent. The fig¬ures point to an ugly truth: Black col¬lege gradu¬ates are more than twice as likely to be un¬em¬ployed.” Furthermore, it does not stop there, along with it being easier for whites land a job in comparison to