Thread by @InterminableVi

Necessary & 💯 article on white supremacist "colorblind" ideology. Thing is I, like so many 80s/Reagan era kids, was taught this was a high ideal when, in reality, it's a powerfully white supremacist one that drowns out the lived realities of Black folks.
bostonreview.net/race-politics/…

Reagan twisted MLK's ideals, using the ideal of being "color blind" to drown out the complexities and reality of King's message, and arguing that a MLK holiday was too expensive & “we could have an awful lot of holidays if we start down that road.”

Pressured further Reagan caved but wrote a R Gov of NH that it was:

"based 'on an image [of King], not reality.' Reagan’s support for the federal King holiday...had nothing to do with his personal views of the civil rights leader."

R needed to silence his critics & keep votes.

This "enabled Reagan to position himself as the inheritor of King’s colorblind “dream”...in order to advance the anti-black crusade he had waged since the 1960s, now under the alluring mantle of colorblindness."

Sound familiar?

So while the term originated from Plessy v. Ferguson & was 1st meant sincerely, Reagan's (& current usage) of "colorblindness offered an effective ideology through which to roll back the victories of the civil rights movement."

This becomes obvious when Reagan's assistant AG defends his anti Civil Rights policies by "insisting that Reagan’s actions were informed by King’s colorblind philosophy."

IOW, there's no need for Civil Rights when you are (color) blind to the problems & realities of Black life.

"Ultimately Reagan’s rendition of MLK as committed, 1st & foremost, to a colorblind society & tf opposed to any & all race-conscious remedies to racial injustice—a framework that Trump seems to have adopted—has proven essential to the rising influence of colorblind ideology."

To actually respect MLK, "we must cleave our understanding of MLK from notions of colorblindness. Colorblindness & racial justice are not synonymous. King understood that; so should we."

Associate "colorblindness" w/Reagan & now 45, not MLK. See how the term hangs on not seeing.

So how do we see this now? It's apparent when white folks refuse to even have difficult discussions about race b/c "they see no color" or when they claim that white people face racism too. 🙄

Yet it's most glaring when we look at institutions like programs that help Black students w/predominantly white institutions like college, and w/issues that involve any large institution like health care, law enforcement, courts, prisons, voting, etc.

"Colorblindness" is the response that says:
"Black people don't need voting protections b/c we're colorblind."
"Black students don't need help getting into colleges b/c we're colorblind."
ad infinitum until:

Why? Generations of white folks have been taught that:
"Racism is matter of personal bigotry--racists hate people b/c of the color of their skin, or b/c they believe stereotypes about groups of people they’ve never met--not one of institutional discrimination & exploitation."⤵️

pbs.org/newshour/natio…

In ⤴️ article, @mychalsmith, addresses how colorblindness leads 2 white folks saying "Racists are bad" & pushing empty diversity ideals, w/o having to actually *see* & confront the reality of institutionalized white supremacy. It absolves them of actually having to do anything.

And he gives the perfect example of "colorblind" folks who say:

"Well, we had a Black president. So, obviously racism is over."

"reminded of O’s victory...[white people] were more likely to say that racism is behind us & that blacks receive undeserved advantages...that a cont. push for racial equity is unjustified & that any failure of blacks to succeed is their own responsibility.”
[ColorblindBootstraps]

Colorblindness teaches that "Everyone is equal...& therefore everyone has equal opportunity for success... Armed with this impotent analysis, Millennials perpetuate false equivalencies, such as affirmative action as a form of discrimination on par w/Jim Crow segregation."

On top of this history, colorblindness:
"invalidates identities," "hinders tracking racial disparities," & (a big one that I haven't seen elsewhere) ➡️ "implies that color is a problem."
(As in: P1 "I love my Blackness." P2 "Well, I don't see color.")🤬
everydayfeminism.com/2015/02/colorb…

Think about that last one:
"Why are you colorblind?"
"Because it's wrong to see color. We're all equal."
"So it's bad to see color?"
"Yes. It's racist."
"So color is bad?"
See how this leads perfectly to the responses of "divisiveness" or even "racist" when people address racism?