Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman
Deconstructing Privilege: Teaching and Learning as Allies in the Classroom
Chapter 5 Colorblindness Is The New Racism
In this chapter the authors Armstrong and Wildman argue that colorblindness has become the new hallmark of the race debate, and because of this, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recognize discrimination and to have open and honest dialogue or debate about it. One focused term openly discussed in Armstrong and Wildman’s work is white privilege. A natural consequence of privilege is power. In a juxtaposition, my thoughts revisited Delpit’s work and the culture of power. One of the five aspects of power that Delpit discusses is “Those who possess power are frequently least aware-or less willing to acknowledge (or to name) its existence. Those with less power are most aware of its existence.” Immediately the argument also brings me back to Allan Johnson’s article, “Privilege, Power and Difference, where he discusses the use of language and words. He states, “you can’t deal with a problem if you don’t name it; once you name it you can think, talk, and write about it.” How these two articles connect to Armstrong and Wildman’s argument is that when powerful people, white people can’t or don’t recognize that colorblindness exists, it acts as a diversion about race, equality and equity. Camouflaging or omitting direct terms does not create a medium for strong, factual debate.
Armstrong and Wildman suggest color insight as an antidote to colorblindness and go on to say, “Color insight provides an appropriate antidote to colorblindness, one that remedies the omission of context in racial discourse.” This statement alone is a solution to their argument. The authors go on to provide the reader with four process steps of developing color insight. Once an individual successfully develops color insight it allows them to comprehend what racial awareness is and its meaning.
Of the four process steps of developing color insight, The Power Line Exercise can prove to be a visual schematic to highlight the impediments to equality as related to identity categories to include race. Constructing and examining an individual’s power line is a meaningful and useful tool to assist a person to identify, recognize and understand the existence of systemic privilege in relation to their own identity categories. Once a power line has been worked out, focusing mostly on an individual’s possession of “above the line attributes” may certainly introduce discussion around whiteness and assist those individuals with attributes or systemic privileges above the line to have a more conscious awareness and be able to incorporate such named privileges into their everyday thought process and vocabulary. Denial of such systemic privileges and failure to speak the words allows discrimination to continue.
For a short, additional reading click the link below. The author makes a short and concise argument to admit that racism exists. This is a powerful argument that is thought provoking and essential to understanding the reality that racism exists.
As previously discussed in this blog, I specifically recall Johnson and Delpit's work that articulate the importance of language and naming the problem. At first glance, the title of the assigned reading by German Lopez Why you should stop saying "all lives matter," explained in 9 different ways caused me confusion. I quickly got the point.....
It is common culture for individuals to counter the "Black Lives Matter" with "All Lives Matter." Lopez states that the all lives matter culture "is a complete misunderstanding of what the phrase “black lives matter” means. The person on the receiving end interprets the phrase as “black lives matter more than any other lives.” The “Black Lives Matter” movement does not suggest that black lives are more important than any or all other lives, but rather insinuates that those lives are undervalued and marginalized in the US. Lopez offers real life situations with an exaggerated twist to better drive his point home. He achieves this by including a short video titled such as “All Plates Matter”
I hope you all enjoyed my Blog and I look foward to reading more of yours!
Hi Patricia! I enjoyed reading your blog post. I like the article that you chose to include the link for. There is no doubt that racism is a systemic issue. As a fellow nurse, the image stating that racism is a public health crisis really hits home. It is so true. Thank you for sharing your post!
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia. I want to say that you added great insight on comparing these articles. I see the belief that if you don't state that color exists, then we can't discuss it. It should be a discussion. We should share our cultural beliefs so that we may understand eachother's thoughts and actions.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I often share my college class discussions with my 8th graders (because they are more mature and are of many diverse cultures). When I shared with them that they, not just me, can hold power in a classroom. They didn't believe me. I stated that when I can't help a student figure out a math problem, for example, but a student can, then that student holds the power in that moment. I got a huge smile from one student and she said, "Oh, yeah, I get it! That's so cool!" I loved that expression for her.