Color Blind Society

Color-Blind Society

In the United States today, skin color is a large determinant of social class and legal standings of citizens. On many applications, including job, school, and voting applications, there is a designated area for the indication of your race. "Boxing in" people based on their race gives way to judge them before finding out if they may be a positive asset to one's school or company. Eliminating this area on applications may reduce pre-judging, but it is in no way an answer to the discreet racism that is still dominant in today's society. No matter the change, "the United States remains a racially divided and unequal society" (Rockquemore and Brunsma 3).

In the United States, slavery was defined by simply stealing the rights of Blacks in order to maintain White supremacy. Blacks played a critical role in the economic status of Whites, yet Blacks remained inferior to Whites. There was no hierarchy; it was simply Whites over Blacks. The simplest establishments, such as schools and bathroom, were segregated with signs that read, "White Only" and "Black Only" which became quite common along the Southern United States. This type of "de jure segregation" remains consistent until the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s. The purpose of this Civil Rights movement was to free slaves from oppression, discrimination, and bondage under White supremacy. An intricate part of the Civil Rights movement was Martin Luther King, Jr. He gave a compelling speech during the March on Washington in August 1963. "This drum major of civil rights advocacy espoused a profound vision of an American future in which people are not judged by the color of their skin, but, rather by the content of their character as they seek....respect for their humanity and human dignity within society."

Dr. King along with other civil rights activist gave many efforts to end this segregated movement, but has the United States become a nation where color is no longer an issue? During the 1960s, laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and laws against housing discrimination were passed, but there was still a sense of racial segregation dwelling among the United States. "De facto segregation," versus "de jure segregation," has become a dominant form of society since the Civil Rights movement. Many Whites felt hostile to Blacks due to the recent laws passed against discrimination and Black inferiority. This "racial ideology" is mostly found in schools placing Blacks in neighborhood schools that are predominantly Black. This is a way of keeping them separated, but in a discreet way.

Within society today, there are few Whites that will claim to be racist, but yet they still exist. "Most Whites assert that they 'don't see any color, just people'" (Bonilla-Silva 1). Another common misconception to this contemporary racism is that Blacks "cry out"