You Can’t Erase Race! Attempting to Colorblind Color-Conscious Contexts

• In Event: The Edge of Race: Critical Examinations of Education and Race/Racism

Abstract

Early in 2011 New South Books published a new version of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn without the word ‘nigger,’ in an effort to make the stories less hurtful and more appealing to students. In the spring of 2011, my neice’s racially integrated, high achieving elementary school held a speech contest using Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, but omitted the word ‘negro’ from the document. These two incidents exemplify political moves to erase race from the curriculum, instantiate a colorblind culture, and infuse ahistorical re-tellings of the experiences of people of color in the curriculum. According to the rationale put forth by the state of Arizona the erasure of ethnic studies and the push for colorblindness are purported to create a more unified picture of the United States, and to prevent people of color from feeling ashamed about their oppressive histories. In reality, what colorblind policies accomplish is the erasure of voice and historical memory, the further oppression of students of color, and the inability for society to heal its racial wounds (Brown & Brown, 2010; Nieto, Bode, Kang & Raible, 2008; Ladson-Billings & Brown, 2008). These erasures are not merely targeted at the curriculum, but educational policies which seek to raise student achievement in schools.

The irony of colorblind policy is the color-conscious racism that serves as their foundation. Instantiations of No Child Left Behind, Common Core Standards, and school choice are framed by interest convergence between White elites wanting to raise the competitive level between the U.S. and nations such as Japan, China and India, and people of color wanting to secure equitable school options for their children (Darling-Hammond, 2000, 2007). Thus, colorblind policies are saturated with color-conscious issues of race (Lopez, 2003). Those educators who dare to talk about race place themselves in precarious positions as instigators of hurtful non-academic conversations that detract from the education must take place in order for students to meet the outcomes of standardized goals and norm referenced tests.

Using the voices of students of color, I discuss how supposedly colorblind school contexts further marginalize students of color. The establishment of a colorblind culture in schools pushes discussions of race and racism to the very edges of the curriculum and obfuscates issues of student engagement, student/ teacher relationships, and parental involvement. I explore how colorblind ideologies have further marginalized teachers’ and schools’ attempts to create critical multicultural spaces and widen the equity gap between White students who are validated through and students of color who are oppressed by white supremacist articulations of curriculum and education policy (Tarca, 2005; Urrieta, 2006). ‘To break the interlocking patterns of racial hierarchy, there is no other way but to focus on, talk about, and put into effect constructive policies explicitly engaged with race’ (Lopez, 2006). I assert that schools need to commit to a focus on critical multicultural education for social justice in order to assist citizens in the U.S. understand the current systemic and historical implications of racism (Kincheloe, 1993).

Author

• Thandeka K. Chapman, University of California - San Diego