post-modern racialism 3.3

In my previous post, I discussed my thoughts on “colorblindness” in response to a comment made during the first class claiming that ignoring or overlooking racial differences and skin color will promote racial harmony. I spoke about the dangers of this outlook, as ideal as it may sound, and tried to emphasize the importance of recognizing the existence of race as is in term of social construct rather than simply pretending its social and historical effects don’t exist. By consciously ignoring the preexisting complexities of race, we will in no way solve the issues of racism and create any form of harmony.  I feel, in a way, this only allows us to be ever more ignorant; it allows those with racial privileges to close their eyes to the injustice experiences of others.  With all of this being said, I agree completely with Taylor’s concept and definition of “post-modern racialism” and feel as though it is extremely important for us to recognize as we try to at least move forward into the direction of racial harmony.

The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that there is one. Taylor’s explanation of the stages of racism in Table 3.1 maps out the different forms that it has taken, describing this “post-modern” interpretation of race concept as being an “aesthetic cultural phenomenon” where hegemony replaces domination in terms of its distributive framework. He explains, “post-modernism here involves flattening difference, insisting on the unity of the human family and the declining significance of race, in ways that obscure the way various stratifying mechanisms continues to do their work.” Patterns of preexisting white privileges and the overall system of domination have thus been maintained and further enabled by this shift to hegemony. As we discussed in our last class, there are so many examples of this unspoken separation and racialism even on our small, racially disproportionate bubble of a campus. Even little things, like how blacks tend to sit away from white in the cafeteria, or how there is segregation within Greek Life, the baseball team, S.U.N. and the Step Team, for example. Of course, nowhere is it officially established or mandated that one table or team is designated for a certain skin color, but somehow, subconsciously, we tend to migrate towards those with our own skin color and background. Our school and the organizations within it have been established with complete “colorblindness” and yet we have somehow found a way to make it segregated and have quietly created our own rules and expectations and stereotypes based on preexisting conditions, norms, and characteristics of how blacks and whites are expected to behave. Like Taylor said, the “various…mechanisms continue to do their work” despite the flattening of differences between races as established by our school. There is still so much that we do not talk about, and so many forms of racism on campus that we do not even recognize. The social constructs exist. The stereotypes and assumptions and behavioral expectations exist. Simply seeing everyone as the same and being blind to their race is only worsening our ignorance and feeding our growing fear of the unknown and unfamiliar.