"'Colorblindness' is a massive, misguided gaslighting effort against people of color", and many more hot takes by the luminaries of rpolitics when the topic of CRT gets brought up

words*300 trigger warning legit though, jfc this is way too many words

The issue is “colorblindness”.

"Colorblindness” is a massive, misguided gaslighting effort against people of color. It’s little more than a really weak attempt to invalidate the concept of systemic racism. That’s why the political Right won’t let it go, even though social scientists abandoned it a long time ago.

Let’s all acknowledge that no one is actually “blind” to race. We all see and unconsciously recognize the physical and/or cultural markers of race when we see a human.

Seeing those things is not racist. It would be absurd to claim that acknowledging and appreciating the diversity of the human experience is racist. What’s racist is choosing to be ignorant of the cultural and historical contexts that have a material impact on the lives of people unlike yourself. The simple fact of the matter is that society hasn’t and doesn’t treat everyone the same.

On an individual level, we all have unconscious biases. Even if you don’t think you’re racist. Whether you choose to accept it or not, they do impact the way you move through the world.

Rules aren’t colorblind, either. Schools across the U.S. have dress codes that specifically ban natural Black hair and hairstyles, deeming it distracting or unprofessional. Is it “colorblind” when children of one race are told that their natural features are good enough for school, while children of another race are told that their natural features are unacceptable and forced to commit time and energy to altering themselves in order to gain access to an education?

Redlining. Crack vs cocaine. Racial biases in hiring.

Pretending colorblindness is a thing is a massive slap in the face to the people who have been affected by these and other systemic inequities.

Social scientists moved beyond colorblindness decades ago. Just because the general public has been held back by right-wing talking points doesn’t mean we need to entertain these outdated nonsense concepts.