Colorblindness

Sue Ellen Henry

Colorblindness is an individual and social idea based upon two primary notions: (1) that to overtly ignore a person's race alleviates the possible racism that might otherwise operate and (2) that the equal opportunity structure of U.S. society means that failures among various racial groups to achieve can be best explained by deficiencies in individuals rather than by inequities that result from group membership. Notions of colorblindness operate throughout educational policies and in all levels of personnel. Its pervasiveness makes it a critical educational issue, both within individual classrooms and in the interactions between students and teachers, as well as in understanding educational policies such as “zero-tolerance” discipline approaches. Many people believe that colorblindness —the idea that racial and/or ethnic group affinity ought to be irrelevant to how one is treated in social and interpersonal interactions—is the natural response to racism, which is often defined as the antipathy for These ...

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