Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America

Bonilla-Silva notes he is cognizant of the important events in race relations in the last few years: President Trump voters’ increase in vocalizing overt racism, the election of President Joe Biden and what many see as a return to normalcy, and the Black Lives Matter movement. However, regardless of who is president, the fact remains that the New Racism and its color-blind racist ideology are still the dominant racial paths in American life. Most of his suggestions for fixing the situation are based on that interpretation of racial matters. First, he looks at what white people can do and notes the most important thing to do is to get involved in social movements on race.

Personal Changes Whites Need to Consider

To create systemic change rather than mere reforms, society needs to be shaken at its foundation. Both slavery and Jim Crow ended only because of massive resistance. As Marx noted, material force can only be thrown out by other material force, not merely by new ideologies. This also requires people to change as individuals so they might become the cracks in the system. To emotionally and cognitively liberate oneself from color-blind racism is a hard process, but Bonilla-Silva offers a step-by-step procedure addressed to the individual reader.

1. If you agreed with his arguments, you have to stop claiming you are good and tolerant and work to transition from the liberal standpoint into a full-on antiracist.

2. You should read the work of Tim Wise, Eileen O’Brien, and other antiracists to learn how to be a good antiracist, which is a person who tries to change the norms and practices that are preconditions for racism. However, he urges you to avoid the self-help-style books that have gained a huge following in the past few years because the journey to antiracism is one that is “personal, political, and collective” rather than just about your individual process (366). (This is a little ironic since the author offers a self-help-style approach in this very section.)

3. Becoming an antiracist can make you arrogant as you consider yourself better than racists. Never forget that you are part of the white team and learn some humility.

4. The process to becoming an antiracist starts at home, and you need to start by asking yourself about who you are attracted to and who your friends are. If you still harbor some racist views, you need to dig deeper into yourself to correct your thoughts.

5. Digging deeper means you have to explore how systemic racism has shaped your own views and be willing to get past feelings of jealousy or anger that might stem from a Black person getting a spot in a school or job you thought was yours.

6. You need to open yourself up to the possibility that you will get hurt and avoid safe spaces. As an example, you need to understand that even your Black friends may remind you that you are still white and that it is not okay for you to use certain words or co-opt terms such as “throwing shade” (368).

7. Finally, you have to get over the hurt you exposed yourself to in the previous step by digging deeper and recognizing you need to do more than acquire new knowledge; you need to partake in social action. You need to open a completely free dialogue with the Black friends from step 4. Only then will your friendship and your antiracism grow.

From Changing Yourself to “Changing the World”

If you’re trying to change yourself, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve done work on racism with people in your community. Next, Bonilla-Silva offers a list of steps to help change the racial structures of the world.

1. History shows that any fundamental change requires a social movement, usually one that involves large-scale social protest. Merely voting is not enough, especially as both parties are supported by the same pro-status-quo corporate interests.

2. Remember, social movement work is hard and guarantees no easy wins. However, electoral politics practically never lead to change.

3. Ultimately, the slow, hard, open-ended work of a social movement is the main vehicle for changing the world. At this juncture, it is unclear if the Black Lives Matter movement will produce actual change, but it is clear that at this point any unjustified police killing of a Black person will result in social protests.

4. BLM and other student movements are the most visible movements around these days, and Bonilla-Silva hopes you can connect with them. If you cannot, though, there are other great organizations such as those fighting for immigrant rights, voting rights, and other issues of racial justice. He notes that all the white friends he respects have proven themselves by participating in social mobilization.

5. Unlike the mainstream racial politics that dominate both political parties, the racial politics of the young activists are all about changing the structural elements of systemic racism, or, as one young activist put it, “changing the whole damn thing” (372).

6. Changing everything requires not only addressing the New Racism but also color-blind racism, its ideological cousin. BLM and other activists seem committed to doing both and have put forth strong demands to the Biden-Harris administration to address systemic racism. That said, Bonilla-Silva notes he has to mention the rise of old-fashioned racist incidents due to “Trump’s white nationalism, anti-Black racism,” and continued “agitation of whites’ racial anxiety” even as an ex-president (373). Trump said practically nothing about the murder of George Floyd beyond criticizing those who protested it but was quick and forceful in his support of his own supporters as they stormed the Capitol or killed protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This means we have to fight both the racial monsters of the present as well as the past. There are many groups, such as the NAACP, La Raza, and others, that are fighting the hate of the Trump moment, but so are most younger groups. You can pick any of them, so long as you don’t lose sight of the present racism for the old-school, hateful racism.

7. Thus, its’s clear you have plenty of options. The moment requires action, and you must stand with people of color and make their struggle your struggle too.

8. As a note for readers of color, this chapter focuses on white people, but everything Bonilla-Silva has stated applies to you too. Now is the time to get involved in social movements and make some loud demands.

As a final note, Bonilla-Silva notes that the word “politics” is poisonous these days and that many readers will find this chapter too optimistic or propagandistic. He disagrees, of course. However, even if he didn’t convince you to get super involved with issues of racial justice, you have to do something to be part of the collective effort to undo systemic racism.

On “Racial Utopia”: Ranting about an Unknown but Much-Needed Future

Because his primary target has been to explain how we discuss race in society, Bonilla-Silva notes he has said too little about class, gender, and sexual orientation. However, when he wrote the first edition of the book 20 years ago, he felt that too many scholars were arguing that race mattered more than class or any other identity in determining power in the world. Today, the world is slightly better, so he can talk a bit more about what he thinks a new society ought to resemble.

First, he thinks the victims of racial domination and (somewhat controversially, given the historic record) their white racially progressive allies will be the ones directing the charge for racial equality. Second, there needs to be some form of reparations, something that has been demanded by various oppressed groups around the world, to remedy inequalities. Third, we have to dismantle the racial structure of society and create a new, non-racist culture. Fourth, any utopia must be a global effort that follows an agenda for humanity.

There are unresolved issues, though, too. First is the question of whether the idea of race will exist in the utopia. It will likely persist as a cultural concept for centuries, but without being a category of inequality, race won’t be a bad thing. Over time, race will likely cease to exist altogether.

Second is the question of whether racial utopia will still have nation-states. Maybe, he says, but nation-states are not easily dismantled, and a new world structure would require people to imagine new forms and units of community.

Third is the question of whether racial utopia can be achieved without addressing other inequalities. Bonilla-Silva believes that class matters (indeed, it’s how he got into sociology in the first place) and, thus, believes that utopia will require intersectional changes across race, class, and gender lines.

Fourth is a very Hegelian and Marxist question: Is racial utopia the “end of history?” (381) Bonilla-Silva thinks not, as there will realistically likely be some new forms of inequality that develop, even in utopia.

Finally, he notes that he still thinks groups that address non-racial forms of discrimination (such as groups committed to feminism or LGBTQ+ rights) need to exist, even though he hopes for an intersectional approach to changing the world. He knows that radical social movements will not likely include the demands of other oppressed people without being reminded of them. However, he again reiterates that no change will come free of social movements. Scholar-activists like himself have a need to work with and for the oppressed but must also remain humble enough to listen to and learn from all efforts to help the oppressed. Only then can a utopia be even theoretically possible.

He ends with a note about how he is an older sociologist who, though he was never purely a traditional sociologist, wants to free himself of the chains of his scholarly discipline. Change requires taking risks and being bold, so he hopes the reader will forgive him for openly advocating in the book. Bonilla-Silva notes that he now sees his job as being one focused on getting the truth out there and hoping everyone will join him in the hard work of making the world “more humane, inclusive, and democratic” (383).