The Structure of Racism in Color-Blind, “Post-Racial” America

TLDR

The article examines the racial order of America in the post–Civil Rights era. The author analyzes racism structurally, outlining the rise of a subtle, institutional “new racism” and the color‑blind ideology that underpins it, including the Obama moment as evidence. The study concludes that this new racism has largely replaced the old Jim Crow order, with the Obama moment exemplifying the shift, and questions whether people of color will recognize this enduring domination.

Abstract

In this article, I describe the racial order of America in the post–Civil Rights era. First, I discuss what racism is all about and emphasize the centrality of conceiving the phenomenon in a structural way. Second, I argue that the “new racism,” or the set of mostly subtle, institutional, and seemingly nonracial mechanisms and practices that comprise the racial regime of “post-racial” America, has all but replaced the old Jim Crow order. Third, I describe the racial ideology of color-blind racism and its component parts (i.e., frames, style, and racial stories) and contend that, like the racial order, this new ideology is slippery and has a “beyond race” character. Fourth, I explain that the Obama moment is part of the new racism, color-blind period and justify my claim empirically. I conclude this essay pondering if people of color will wake up and realize that the new, more “civil” way of maintaining and justifying racial things is a more formidable way of maintaining racial domination.