Color-Blind Society
Is the Emphasis on a Color-Blind Society an Answer to Racism?
The color of a person’s skin has played a vital role in determining the legal and social status of certain individuals and groups throughout American history. Slavery within the United States developed as a racial institution in which the darkness of a person’s skin defined their status as a bonded person and the distinction between black and white facilitated the establishment of the social control necessary to maintain the effectiveness of this mode of economic production. When blacks and white started getting together during the Slave Era it resulted in creation of biracial babies, and these interracial groups were components of a racial hierarchy based upon skin color. The status of a free black man at this time was above a slave but below interracial groups, thus reflecting the color-based status differentiations that informed the social structure of antebellum American society. Throughout history, even though it is said that everyone has equal rights, it has never really been that way. Everyone whose skin is not white is classified in a lower social class and negative things are automatically thought about people and groups of other races. The negative thoughts about racial groups or people of different skin colors are not changing; instead they are being passed down with every new generation to keep the thought of whites being the superior race. Today, except for members of a white supremacist organization, most whites in the United States claim to not be “racist.” They claim they “don’t see color, just people” Although discrimination is still with us, it is not the central factor determining minorities’ life chances anymore. Most whites insist that the minorities (especially blacks) are responsible for whatever “race problems” there are in the country. They say blacks “play the race card” too much, and believe if everyone would stop thinking about the past, work hard,
The color of a person’s skin has played a vital role in determining the legal and social status of certain individuals and groups throughout American history. Slavery within the United States developed as a racial institution in which the darkness of a person’s skin defined their status as a bonded person and the distinction between black and white facilitated the establishment of the social control necessary to maintain the effectiveness of this mode of economic production. When blacks and white started getting together during the Slave Era it resulted in creation of biracial babies, and these interracial groups were components of a racial hierarchy based upon skin color. The status of a free black man at this time was above a slave but below interracial groups, thus reflecting the color-based status differentiations that informed the social structure of antebellum American society. Throughout history, even though it is said that everyone has equal rights, it has never really been that way. Everyone whose skin is not white is classified in a lower social class and negative things are automatically thought about people and groups of other races. The negative thoughts about racial groups or people of different skin colors are not changing; instead they are being passed down with every new generation to keep the thought of whites being the superior race. Today, except for members of a white supremacist organization, most whites in the United States claim to not be “racist.” They claim they “don’t see color, just people” Although discrimination is still with us, it is not the central factor determining minorities’ life chances anymore. Most whites insist that the minorities (especially blacks) are responsible for whatever “race problems” there are in the country. They say blacks “play the race card” too much, and believe if everyone would stop thinking about the past, work hard,