This document summarizes research on color-blind racism and how racism operates in more subtle, institutional ways today. It discusses Bonilla-Silva's concept of color-blind racism, which involves avoiding overtly racist language but still conveying racialized ideologies through coded language. It also summarizes Hill-Collins' framework of racism operating through four interconnected domains of power: structural, disciplinary, cultural, and interpersonal. The document proposes a model for examining disciplinary disproportionality in schools through this framework.

1. COLOR BLIND RACISM
Cayce McCamish

2. COLOR-BLIND RACISM: RACISM WITHOUT
RACISTS (BONILLA-SILVA, 2006)

Qualitative research on the new face of racism- Color-blind
Racism
Color-blind Racism:
 “racial norms disallow the open expression of racial views,
[and as a result] whites have developed a concealed way of
voicing them” (Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p. 57).
 “practices that are subtle, institutional, and apparently
nonracial” (Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p. 3).
 While avoiding overt verbal expressions of racism, white
participants none-the-less conveyed racialized ideology in a
“very careful, indirect, hesitant” and “coded language”
(Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p. 55).
 Recognition of this change in the language and expression
of racism is critical for our efforts to continue to name it as
racism.

3. COLOR-BLIND RACISM: CENTRAL FRAMES
 Central
frames:
Abstract liberalism: emphasizes equality in theory,
but rejects any necessary policy changes which would
give the appearance of “preferential treatment” to
minority groups
 Naturalization: explains race-related occurrences as
though they are simply part of the natural order of
things
 Cultural racism: utilizes “culturally based
arguments” to explain “the standing of minorities in
society”; have replaced “biological views” about racial
inferiority.
 Minimization: “discrimination is no longer a central
factor affecting minorities’ life chances”


4. I don’t see
skin color.
I am
completely
color blind.
For
instance,
I don’t
see that
the man
next to
me is
Black.
No,
sir. I
don’t
see it.

5. COLOR-BLIND RACISM AND POWER
Patricia Hill-Collins asserts “racism is a
system of power with four domains” which
are: structural, disciplinary, cultural, and
interpersonal (Hill-Collins, 2009, p. 53).
 Racism is “produced and resisted within each
domain of power as well as across all four
domains” (Hill-Collins, 2009, p. 55).


6. 4 DOMAINS OF POWER (HILL-COLLINS, 2009)
“how racism as a
system of power is
set up,” and
“organized”
through “social
institutions”
“manufactures the
ideas that justify
racial hierarchy” by
“constructing
representations,
ideas, and stories
about race and
racism”
Structural
Cultural
Disciplinary
Interpersonal
“use the rules and
regulations of
everyday life to
uphold the racial
hierarchy or to
challenge it” and is
organized through
“bureaucracies”
and rely on
“surveillance”
“shapes race relations
among individuals in
everyday life” whereby
during “ordinary social
interactions” individuals
“accept and/or resist
racial inequality” in
their lives

7. PROPOSED MODEL FOR EXAMINING DISCIPLINARY
DISPROPORTIONALITY (MCCAMISH, 2012)
What policies and
procedures impact
Disciplinary
Disproportionality?
How so?
What are the
unspoken beliefs
held by staff
about our
students and
their families
based upon race
and culture?
Structural
Cultural
Disciplinary
Interpersonal
What does our
disciplinary data tell us
about Disciplinary
Disproportionality?
What behaviors are
most involved? How
are our disciplinary
expectations impacted
by race and culture?
How consistent are we?
What do we know
about relationships
between individuals of
different races? Do our
staff members
establish meaningful
relationships with
African American
students?

8. REFERENCES
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2006). Racism without racists:
Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial
inequality in the United States (2nd ed.)
Lanham, MD: The Rowman & Littlefield
Publishing Group, Inc.
Hill-Collins, P. (2009). Another Kind of Public
Education: Race, Schools, the Media, and
Democratic Possibilities.
Boston, MA:
Beacon Press.
McCamish, C. (2012). Disciplinary
Disproportionality and the Organization of
Power. Retrieved from NC Docks
http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/listing.aspx?id=943
6.