It’s All in the Definition: Color‐Blind Interpretations of School Diversity

Abstract

Color-blind theory posits that ignoring race is a purposeful tool for protecting white privilege. Implicit in this theory is the idea that color blindness arises in times of racial threat because color-blind attitudes provide individuals with a tool for justifying racialized practices. Schools provide an ideal context for testing these implicit assumptions of color-blind theory. Public schools have shifted from using race conscious practices, such as forced busing, to racially ambiguous ones, such as touting diversity to address racial integration. Diversity is racially ambiguous because it can be interpreted as the inclusion of racial minorities but can also have a broader, color-blind meaning. In this study, I use a survey experiment to test whether experiencing racial threat leads white participants to have a color-blind interpretation of school diversity and whether racialized practices (in this case, picking a whiter school) mediates that relationship. I find evidence corroborating color-blind theory. Experiencing racial threat increases the probability that participants have a color-blind understanding of school diversity. Further, I find evidence that the mechanism explaining this relationship is participants picking whiter schools, highlighting that color blindness can be used as a tool to justify racialized practices.

Diversity Discourse as Racialized and Double-edged: Findings from a National Survey

“…Third, the keyword diversity could be seen as of post-racial beliefs or color-blind racism (Bonilla-Silva 2003). Several authors have discussed how diversity discourse forces attention to racial difference yet ironically obscures attention to racial inequality and thus reifies post-racial ideology (e.g., Bell and Hartmann 2007; Berrey 2015; Herring and Henderson 2011; Petts 2020).…”

“…Following Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2003), color-blind racism and post-racial ideology have been important concepts in sociology and critical race theory, highlighting how ostensibly neutral, race-blind statements such as “I don’t see color” actually obscure racial inequality and reify white supremacy (Bonilla-Silva and Dietrich 2011; see also Burke 2017; Doane 2017). Everyday diversity discourse frames racial difference in a rosy, sanitized manner that downplays contemporary racial inequality, which can reify post-racial ideology (e.g., Bell and Hartmann 2007; Berrey 2015; Herring and Henderson 2011; Petts 2020; Ray et al 2017).…”

Policy Storms at the Central Office: Conflicting Narratives of Racial Equity and Segregation at School Committee Meetings

“…Public schools have moved away from using race conscious practices like forced busing to address racial inequity (Petts, 2020). Instead, school committees and taskforces are established with the aim of leading the institutions into becoming more inclusive.…”

Siting Schools, Choosing Students? Protecting White Habitus Through Charter School Recruitment

“…Recent research also indicates that charter school marketing strategies target white, affluent families by emphasizing specific learning styles (Haber 2021). As a group, whites use colorblindness to justify racialized practices like choosing whiter schools (Petts 2020). These organizational logics and racial ideologies have been examined across institutional contexts.…”