Colorblind Racism

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The color line impacts all cultures, even those isolated to only one race. The color line dividing different races is a broad concept made more understandable through centuries of separation, but the line dividing members of the same race is a “local phase of a world problem” (Mullen) that specifically stems from systems of internalized racism. For example, many ethnicities favor those with eurocentric features: pale skin, small nose, wide eyes (Lipsitz). Thus, even within an individual race, the color line is apparent and plays into social status and community relations. Those with “whiter” features are valued higher than those who appear less so. Take the global film industry for example; directors are “not interested in diversity, but brilliance” …show more content…
Furthermore, roles that should obviously go to a person of color tend to get white-washed (due to the aforemention veil of subconscious discrimination disguised as colorblindness), thus diminishing the number of opportunities performers of color have. “The systematic exclusion of actors of color creates a vicious cycle” (Yuen) which favors those appearing more white, and plays into harmful stereotypes that are racist in themselves; for example, dark-skinned African Americans get frequently cast as thugs, while light-skinned African Americans are more likely to be cast as protagonists (Lipsitz). Using this specific aspect of intra-race discrimination to demonstrate the role of the color line among people of the same race, the concept of discrimination is not limited to whites versus …show more content…
While the meaning of this idea is frequently associated with segregation and disparities among races, it can also refer to the mere differences between races and the positive aspects that come from it. In fact, Du Bois frequently stated that the color line provided African Americans with the gift of “second sight” in his book The Souls of Black Folk. Essentially, he believed that racial differences- and the discrimination known to follow- gave people of color a gift known as “second sight”; since they had to endure a strife that their white counterparts will never be exposed to, they in turn have broader horizons in respects to what they know to be true about the world (Du Bois). Du Bois even goes as far as to state that all white nations have “never produced and never will in our day bring forth a single human soul who cannot be matched and over-matched in every line of human endeavor by Asia and Africa”. This advantage comes solely from the color line. People of color learned how to persevere in a world riddled with setbacks at every corner- from pay gaps, to underrepresentation in the media, to
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