A civil rights march in 1968. Photo illustration by Mark Harris. Source: Photograph by Dr. Ernest C. Withers Sr./Withers Family Trust

The “colorblindness” trap

In the American civil rights movement, the idea of being “colorblind” was used to challenge discriminatory laws and policies. Leaders believed that achieving colorblindness required race-conscious policies to help Black people overcome disadvantages stemming from slavery.

But the idea and language of “colorblindness” was hijacked, my colleague Nikole Hannah-Jones argues in an essay. Conservatives have co-opted the language of “colorblindness,” she writes, stalling or reversing racial progress — as seen in last year’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that affirmative action in college admissions was not constitutional, and the ensuing assault on race-conscious programs.

“The Supreme Court has helped constitutionalize a colorblindness that leaves racial disparities intact while striking down efforts to ameliorate them,” she argues in a guide to the basic points of her essay.

For more: Nikole explains her essay in a three-minute video.