The document discusses racism in Seattle through interviews with millennials. While most acknowledge racism exists, many are unaware of its subtler forms like microaggressions. Most believe in racial inequality but can't provide personal examples. Views on affirmative action and Black Lives Matter varied based on background. The author argues racism persists due to colorblind attitudes and a lack of historical context taught in schools. Combating racism requires recognizing its systemic nature and reconstructing societal frameworks that enable oppression.

1. The Phenomenon of
Colorblindess in the
Millennial Age
the Attitude onRacisminSeattle andHow to Combat
Colorblindness
ABSTRACT
A lookat how racism isplayedoutwithinthe Pacific
Northwestregion.The attitude of the millennial age is
examinedandbroughttolight,whileexploring
possible solutionsinaidingthe endingof acolorblind
attitude.
Tatiana Perkins
JSIS436 – ProfessorWarren

2. Seattle is notoriously a progressive area of the United States. A majority of people that
live in the West side of Washington are typically liberal in their political views. Because of this,
it is easy for racist tendencies to go noticed, and are usually brought about in the form of closeted
remarks and as jokes. In my experience, I have seen many people around me claim that racism in
non-existent in this area. While there is less overt racism that is apparent, I have seen it occur
time and time again. Usually, microaggressions, which is a conveying of negative messages
towards a marginalized group based on their status, is the prominent form of racism as I have
seen it within the area. It is less likely to see someone lash out on a person of color on a basis of
their race, broadcast for everyone to see.
My goal is to understand the manifestation of racism in the greater Seattle area, how it
comes to play in the lives millennials and what the possible steps are to combat this
phenomenon. To do this, I have interviewed an array of young people to gather different
perspectives on certain racial issues, and how their lives have been affected by racism in Seattle.
A question I was particularly interested in is whether or not people even believe that there is
racism in Seattle. Since it is not conveyed as overtly as specified, I wanted to get the reaction of
different people that live in the area. People that I interviewed come from different backgrounds,
whether that be racially or economically and provide a diverse insight to how racism looks in
Seattle.
Out of curiosity, I conducted a Twitter poll to get a rough idea of the ideologies on topics
surrounding race and racism to examine what people currently believe. My follower base
consists of millennials that come from many different backgrounds, which would make for a
good target audience for my research. The results are as shown:

3. xkxkksl
zskxkx
m m kj djffmmm ksxkksxdmskmxmxmxmksmc
x
Taking into consideration the anonymity of the polls, this is a fairly accurate
representation of the spread of what millennials believe to be true within the area. While 78% of
people believe that there is racism in the Seattle area, only 24% are a part of any kind of equality
movements. This demonstrates the discourse on what works on a social level to combat this
racism that exists. Young people seem unmotivated to get involved with movements that combat
issues that they believe in, and it is not understood why that is the case. Later in my interviews, I
ask individuals why they are not a part of these movements, and they explain that they do not
really feel a need to be a part because they are unaffected, or that they just never think about

4. them. I also found it surprising that not more people buy into the Black Lives Matter narrative,
because from my experience I have seen most of my peers support the movement and understand
the motives behind it. I suppose the anonymity of the poll would allow people to choose whether
they bought into the movement or not without experiencing any backlash.
The whole social media aspect also intrigued me, and led me to believe that more people
would be in favor of things such as the Black Lives Matter movement. From what I have seen,
outlets such as Facebook and Twitter have given rise to a lot of conversations centered on race.
Many times, I will have Facebook friends get in full out arguments about topics of race, talking
about how bringing up race as a factor to blame anything is a racist act in itself. The predominant
ideology is that in the current age, people are seen as equal, which means that race should not
play a role in anything. Even when facing any kind of discrimination, take the classroom for
example, people like to explain that that discrimination occurred because the person did not
excel in the same way as other students, when the reality of it may be that there is underlying
racist tones that have caused the discrimination. To me, racism is very apparent within the
Pacific Northwest, but it happens in a different manner here than it may occur in other parts of
the nation. People are so concerned about their image, that they will not outright make any overt
racist remarks, but will instead make such claims in the form of jokes or with some kind of
cushion. It seems ridiculous, that people would begin sentences with the phrase “I’m not racist
but…” however that happens quite often. Maybe not in that exact phrasing, but it does serve as
an accurate representation of the cushioning that Seattleites use.
To explore this trend of racial colorblindness, defined by Ruth Frankenberg is that we are
all human beings, and the way to show that people are not racist is to not talk about it. To explore
this phenomenon, I interviewed eight millennials and asked them each five questions.

5. 1. Do you believe that racism exists in the Pacific Northwest
2. What do you think about the Black Lives Matter movement?
3. Do you believe that there is racial inequality (in school, the workplace etc...)
4. What do you believe about race based programs such as affirmative action?
5. Are you a part of any anti-racist movements, organizations or clubs?
Will Keon
Calvin Yemna
Abel Jarem
Levi Mohammad

6. What intrigued me about the interviews was how differently each person responded to
each question, and how I believe that their background had a lot to do with each response.
Mostly everyone, with the exception of Yemna and Jarem, believed that racism does exist within
the Seattle area, but it was all conveyed in different ways. Some believed that it was just intrinsic
in society and has been taught since a young age, and some thought that racism is inevitable in
society. The ones that believed there was no racism had never first handed experienced it
themselves, so it makes sense as to why they may think that it does not exist. This may be true
for a lot of people in the area as well, I have noticed with meeting people from upper-class areas
in the greater Seattle area that a lot of the time they may not see racism occur in front of them.
Usually the minorities that they are around on a day to day basis are well-off economically and
may be from an area where racism is not necessarily seen. However even in communities, there
can be a sick underlying nastiness to minorities. Talking with Keon, I discovered that within his
community, there were always jokes make about him being Persian in relation to terrorism, and
how he would always be forced to just brush it off because his friends never “actually meant it”
and how it may fuel the fire of people believing there is some kind of truth to these jokes.
A lot of the subjects were unaware of what the Black Lives Matter movement stood for,
or understood that the movement itself could get construed by many. When people did not really
understand the movement, they seemed to have a negative stigma towards it entirely. This may
be because there have been radical protests, as pictured above, when people in the movement
stopped Bernie Sanders’ speech in Westlake Park in mid-2015. A lot of young people in the
Seattle area are Sanders supporters, so acts like this are likely to trump their support of the
movement entirely. Will pointed out that he believed the movement should touch on more than
just the oppressed black people in America, and that the movement should reach out to all

7. minorities that may face some kind of oppression. I feel as if a lot of people have this view as
well, and is a lot of the reason why other marginalized groups are adamant about participating in
the movement as an entirety. In social movements, it may be imperative to contribute to other
social justice groups in order to achieve complete equality, but I feel as if this is what barrier
groups are currently facing. It is seldom that there are for example, Asian-Americans that
participate in the movement, because they face discrimination differently than those of African
descent.
Mostly everyone expressed that they believe there is racial inequality, but could never
specify instances in which they have experienced it first-hand. Levi indicated that when his dad
went through an interview process for potential employees, he never took into consideration the
race of any of the applicants, which influenced his view of racial discrimination. The others
could recognize it, but could not extremely internalize the extent in which racial discrimination
occurs. It was interesting that Yemna felt that she had never personally been discriminated
against, being from another country her experience may have been different than one growing up
in the United States. I understand where she is coming from, personally I went to a diverse
school district for grade school and a lot of my friends never experienced first-hand racism.
However, it was known that it would happen to other people close around.
Considering affirmative action, it was revealed that most of the people I interviewed that
there was an equal playing ground in terms of being hired or with college acceptance. Many
were very against affirmative action because they believed that minorities and people of color
did not have any reason to get any push because of their racial background. However, Abel and
Mo explain how affirmative action has personally helped people close to them and even
themselves. Mo further explains how he would not know what he would be doing without the

8. help of financial aid in gaining an education. While affirmative action serves as a compensation
for discrimination that occurs in a minority’s day to day life, including being ignored when
needed help at a business, getting called back for a job, and being bullied by their peers, it is not
a widely accepted action. The Supreme Court even recently struck down the necessity of the
program, however there have been studies that reveal that there still is racism ingrained within
the mindset of all. A study titled "Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and
Jamal?" was conducted, testing whether or not those with ethnic names are less likely to get
called back to a job, and the study showed that “the resumes with white-sounding names spurred
50 percent more callbacks than the ones with black-sounding names) (Sanders, 2015). Studies
such as this call that we keep programs such as affirmative action in place.
After seeing how ingrained racist tendencies are within the community, especially with
the violent threat of colorblind racism in Seattle, my solution to combat this would be to begin
with teaching the whole truth of racism in America in classrooms. While the civil rights
movement is taught, many believe that this is where racism ends. Many are never exposed to
racism that happens in daily life for some people, and it passes over their heads. Robert Jensen,
in his novel The Heart of Whiteness explains how “people tend to be selective about how they
use history,” (Jensen, 27) manifest in schools in Seattle. A lot of the time, many aspects of
history are omitted from history. There is also no current curriculum that highlights very much in
detail Jim Crow, and especially no teachings of the new Jim Crow either. Having the history of
oppression within society would greatly benefit combatting racism. That way, these
microaggressions that are so natural would no longer be seen as normal, but rather have a
negative stigma.

9. I see Seattle as colorblind because although there are many views that see minorities as
capable, people do not offer any kind of solutions to racism that occurs. They acknowledge that
it exists, yet do nothing to prevent it from happening. The use of racialized jokes and wanting
programs that benefit people of color abolished contribute to this view. This can only change if
future generations are taught more compassion and empathy, and hopefully is the system itself is
reconstructed, the mindset around oppression and modern day racism will change.

10. Sources:
Jensen, Robert. The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism, and White Privilege.
San Francisco, CA: City Lights, 2005. Print.
Sanders, Katie. "Do Job-seekers with 'white' Names Get More Callbacks than 'black'
Names?" Politifact. Punditfact, 15 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.