In Jonathan Y. Okamura’s article, Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai’i, the idea of “color blindness” is discussed within the context of “post-racial” America. Okamura explains how the term “color blindness” has two connotations with it, one negative and one positive one. “Color blind” America is somewhat positive in the sense where people don’t attribute each other’s value in society based on their skin color, but rather on merit. People are defined by their actions and what they contribute to society, which is on the “nurture” side on a nature vs. nurture spectrum. But when people are defined by their skin color, assumptions are made by them based on appearances, which may be more linked to the “nature” side of the spectrum.
The negative aspect of “color blind” America is that when people are erase skin color, they also erase all the history and struggles that people of color have gone through. By being “color blind” people aren’t acknowledging things that have happened in the past, so how can people of color expect anything better to happen in the future?
References
Okamura, Jonathan Y. Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai'i. Routledge. 2016.
Image from The Orange County Register
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