Race and Public Accommodations Discrimination in an Era of Colorblindness

• In Event: 1555 - Urban Sociology

Abstract

Although public accommodations have long been sites of racial discrimination, surprisingly few sociological studies address racism in public accommodations. Moreover, existing scholarship has not fully identified the relational character of racial contestation within these episodes, the perpetrators’ legitimations, nor the role of the broader racial environment in how these incidents manifest. Using theories of colorblind racism and intersectionality along with 35 in-depth probable cause cases of public accommodations discrimination filed between 2000 and 2015 with civil rights commissions, I argue that the different social construction of African American men and women relates to their divergent experiences with public accommodations discrimination. Specifically, these data suggest that black men may be subject to more overt denials of service and calls to the police. Furthermore, I link respondents’ rhetorical attempts to deflect these discrimination claims to the theory of colorblind racism. Analyses also suggest that there may be a territorial character to racial discrimination in public accommodations because the most egregious denials of service within these data took place in predominantly white neighborhoods. I conclude by offering policy suggestions based on these nuanced findings.

Author

• Reginald Anthony Byron, Southwestern University