Finding 1: Colorblind/Post-Racial Story Did Not Match Lived Evidence

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Finding: Colorblind, post-racial story did not match lived evidence

Excerpt:

“I became increasingly convinced that a colorblind, post-racial world did not exist.” 

Support:

1) Encounter: The myth breaks

“For me, this process began with a series of encounters… forced me to grapple with what it means to be Black in a so-called ‘post-racial’ America. My previously held worldview perspective that race should not matter… had been shattered, leaving me to question the reality of race neutrality.” 

2) Encounter: Colorblindness redefined by lived reality

“It was as if ‘colorblindness’ actually meant being blind to the unique challenges individuals face in a racialized society that has yet to achieve its post-racial ideals.” 

3) Encounter vignette: Lived evidence

“And until that moment… I had become convinced that race wasn’t really that important in the grand scheme of things… But when she… repeatedly [used] the phrase ‘You People’… she… creat[ed] separation…”   

“This experience… ushered me into a new awakening, that racism does indeed exist…” 

4) Encounter: The truth hurts

“…I found it utterly paralyzing to believe I had entered a ‘promised land,’ a post-racial world of hope and change, only to be thrust back into a cold, cruel world…I realized that I must have always been naive because I had never been truly awake.”