Trust, Innocence, and Individual Responsibility: Neoliberal Dreams of a Colorblind Peace

Abstract

Abstract In his 1944 article, Prospect of a World Without Racial Conflict , W.E.B. DuBois hypothesized that we would never live in a world without racial division. With this in mind, we highlight how neoliberal ideologies promote policy, actions, and an idea of peace that upholds racial inequality in the United States. We consider how neoliberal tenets, such as free market trust and individual responsibility, reflect and promote misperceptions of racial conflict and impact colorblind perceptions of peace and justice. These perceptions promote definitions of conflict as physical violence versus systemic violence, ignore racial equality as a path to peace in favor of harmonious interaction, and highlight individuals as responsible for racial conflict as opposed to the system. In response, we argue for counter‐definitions of peace that explicitly acknowledge systemic violence and prioritize justice within the racial conflict context.