Talking About Race and Equality

Abstract

Lots of people of different races are increasingly uncomfortable talking about race. They prefer to function in a colorblind society where they insist that race is irrelevant. Not surprisingly, the concept of racial silencing is consistent with the concept of colorblindness. Logically, it seems impossible to talk about race if we are not even supposed to see it. The idea seems to be that if people who believe in racial equality magically stopped seeing and talking about race they could avoid the negativity surrounding racial issues and just hope that the inequality would fix itself. But we know that if we do nothing to address the problem, then little, if anything, is likely to change. As an equality-minded and caring society, we should create safe spaces to talk about race.

Keywords: racism, racial silencing, affirmative action, ABZ, antibalkanization zone, diversity, discrimination

JEL Classification: K00