Color-Blindness and Commonality

Abstract

Although overt racism still adversely affects the well-being and advancement of Black Americans, subtle racism also has a pervasive influence. Color-blind racism, a form of subtle racism, rationalizes the current disadvantaged status of Black Americans and institutionalizes practices that perpetuate the disadvantage. The present article, adopting a psychological perspective, reviews the evidence on the existence and dynamics of contemporary forms of color-blind racism. It documents how racial biases that unconsciously and uncontrollably strategically shape the behavior of White Americans, even among seemingly well-meaning people. The article further examines how White Americans emphasizing color-blindness and common connection between members of different groups can improve intergroup attitudes but reinforce hierarchical relations between groups, which benefit Whites. Understanding the nature of subtle bias and the automatic processes that may underlie it can help illuminate how seemingly well-meaning interventions can obscure its effects, creating a veneer of tolerance while deflecting attention away from unfair treatment (and thus undermining motivation for action toward equality) among members of both dominant and disadvantaged groups.