A Case for Color Blindness | Coleman Hughes | TED

Summary

In this thought-provoking talk, the speaker challenges the modern fixation on racial identity, advocating for a return to the principle of color blindness. He argues that true color blindness is not about ignoring race, but striving to treat people without racial bias in both personal interactions and public policies. The speaker critiques race-based policies, suggesting that class-based approaches are more effective in addressing inequality. He provides examples of both failed race-based policies and successful colorblind practices, urging decision-makers to embrace color blindness as the best principle for a multiracial democracy.

Takeaways

• 👀 The speaker initiates the exercise by asking the audience to close their eyes and visualize their best friend, emphasizing the importance of inner qualities over physical appearance or race.
• 🤔 The audience is challenged to rethink the concept of 'color blindness', which is often misunderstood, and is encouraged to focus on treating people without regard to race.
• 📊 A decline in positive feelings about race relations in America is highlighted through a Gallup chart, indicating a significant crisis in race relations.
• 🔍 The speaker clarifies that 'color blindness' is not about ignoring race but advocating for a principle of equality and fairness in treatment regardless of race.
• 💡 The idea of color blindness is presented as a solution to racial bias, suggesting that it should be applied in both personal and policy contexts.
• 🗣️ Criticisms of color blindness are discussed, with the speaker arguing that these criticisms often stem from a misunderstanding of the concept.
• 👥 The speaker argues that class-based policies are more effective than race-based ones in addressing inequality and are less likely to cause controversy.
• 🏛️ Historical context is provided, showing that the philosophy of color blindness originated from the radical anti-slavery movement, not from conservative ideology.
• 🚫 The speaker critiques race-based policies, using the example of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which led to discrimination against both white men and women/people of color.
• 🛑 An example of a successful colorblind policy is given, where traffic cameras are used to issue tickets, reducing racial bias in law enforcement.
• 🌟 The speaker concludes by encouraging decision-makers worldwide to embrace color blindness, support class-based policies, and create colorblind processes to combat racism and reduce tribal conflict.

Q & A

What is the main point of the exercise the speaker asks the audience to do at the beginning of the talk?

The speaker asks the audience to close their eyes and picture their best friend, focusing on the inner qualities they love about them, to illustrate that these qualities are independent of physical appearance or race.

What does the speaker suggest is the least interesting aspect of a person when considering their best friend?

The speaker suggests that a person's race is the least interesting aspect when considering their best friend, as it does not define their character or the reasons for the friendship.

How does the speaker describe the societal shift in focus towards racial identity over the past decade?

The speaker describes the societal shift as an increasing fixation on racial identity, with people being invited to reflect on their 'inner whiteness' or 'inner Blackness', which has contributed to a crisis in race relations.

What does the speaker mean by 'color blindness' in the context of this talk?

The speaker uses 'color blindness' to refer to the principle of treating people without regard to race, both in personal interactions and public policy, rather than literally not seeing race.

Why does the speaker believe that class-based policies are more effective than race-based policies in addressing inequality?

The speaker believes that class-based policies are more effective because class is a better proxy for true disadvantage than race and because these policies are more popular and less controversial as they do not penalize anyone for immutable biological traits.

What historical figure is mentioned as an early advocate for the philosophy of color blindness?

Wendell Phillips, the president of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 19th century, is mentioned as an early advocate for color blindness, calling for a 'government colorblind'.

How does the speaker argue that color blindness is not a conservative idea?

The speaker argues that color blindness is not a conservative idea but rather originates from the radical wing of the anti-slavery movement in the 19th century, as exemplified by Wendell Phillips.

What is the Restaurant Revitalization Fund example used to illustrate in the talk?

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund example is used to illustrate the negative consequences of a race-based policy, which initially discriminated against white male restaurant owners and later against women and people of color, resulting in a double dose of discrimination.

How does the speaker suggest using traffic cameras as a solution to reduce racial bias in policing?

The speaker suggests that traffic cameras, which cannot be racially biased, can be used to issue tickets for traffic violations, thereby reducing the influence of racial bias in policing.

What is the speaker's response to the critique that color blindness is ignoring the problem of racial discrimination?

The speaker argues that color blindness is not ignoring the problem but rather addressing it with the best philosophy from the anti-slavery movement, aiming to treat people without regard to race.

What advice does the speaker give to key decision makers at any institution regarding the application of color blindness?

The speaker advises key decision makers to embrace color blindness, support class-based policies, and create colorblind processes in their institutions to lower the temperature of tribal conflict and better govern a multiracial, multiethnic society.

Outlines

00:00

👀 The Illusion of Colorblindness

The speaker initiates a thought experiment asking the audience to visualize their best friend and identify the qualities that define them, emphasizing that physical traits and race are not as significant as inner qualities. They argue that society's increasing focus on racial identity is misplaced and contrasts this with the real issues of kindness, beliefs, and potential friendships. The speaker introduces the concept of 'color blindness' not as a literal inability to see race, but as a metaphor for treating people equally regardless of race. They address criticisms of color blindness, explaining its true meaning and historical roots in the abolitionist movement, advocating for a society that strives to treat everyone equally without racial bias.

05:01

🔍 Rethinking Race and Class in Policy

The speaker challenges the notion that color blindness is incompatible with fighting racism, arguing that it is, in fact, a principle that can effectively address racial inequality. They propose replacing race-based policies with class-based ones, contending that class is a more accurate indicator of disadvantage than race. The speaker provides examples to illustrate the shortcomings of race-based policies, such as the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which led to discrimination against both white men and people of color. They advocate for colorblind policies, like the use of traffic cameras for issuing tickets, to reduce racial bias in systems that impact people's lives.

10:04

🎨 Embracing Color Blindness in a Multiracial Society

In the concluding paragraph, the speaker calls for the application of color blindness in various aspects of life, such as grading papers without knowing the students' identities, to foster a more equitable society. They argue that color blindness is the optimal principle for governing a diverse democracy and for reducing tribal conflicts in the long term. The speaker encourages immediate action towards embracing color blindness, rather than waiting for an ideal societal readiness, and responds to the counterargument of being 'color brave' by asserting that color blindness is not about ignoring the problem but addressing it with a historically grounded and effective philosophy.

Keywords

💡Color Blindness

Color blindness in the context of the video refers to the principle of treating people without regard to their race. It's a metaphorical concept that suggests that one should not let race influence their judgment or treatment of others. The video argues that color blindness is not about ignoring race but about striving for equality and fairness. The speaker challenges the notion that color blindness is naive or harmful, advocating for it as a means to combat racism and promote a fair society.

💡Racial Identity

Racial identity is the aspect of one's self-concept that is related to their perception of belonging to a particular race or ethnic group. In the video, the speaker criticizes the increasing fixation on racial identity in society, suggesting that it has led to a rise in racial tensions and a focus on superficial characteristics rather than on the inner qualities that truly define a person.

💡Inner Qualities

Inner qualities refer to the intrinsic personal attributes such as sense of humor, generosity, intelligence, and kindness. The video emphasizes that these qualities are what make up a person's character and are more important than physical characteristics like race, height, or hair color. The speaker uses the exercise of picturing one's best friend to illustrate that people value inner qualities over superficial traits.

💡Race Relations

Race relations encompass the ways in which different racial and ethnic groups interact and the nature of the relationships between them. The video discusses the decline in positive feelings about race relations in America, as shown by Gallup polls, indicating a significant crisis in how different races interact and perceive each other.

💡Abolition's Golden Trumpet

This term refers to Wendell Phillips, a prominent leader in the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 19th century. The nickname 'abolition's golden trumpet' symbolizes his influential role in advocating for the immediate full equality of Black Americans. The video uses this historical reference to trace the origins of the color blindness philosophy to the radical anti-slavery movement, rather than to conservative ideologies.

💡Class-Based Policies

Class-based policies are measures that aim to address social and economic inequalities based on socioeconomic status rather than race. The speaker argues that class is a better indicator of disadvantage than race and suggests that policies should focus on class to reduce inequality without perpetuating racial discrimination. Examples given include need-based financial aid and the earned-income tax credit.

💡Affirmative Action

Affirmative action refers to policies that aim to increase opportunities for members of groups that have been discriminated against, often through preferential treatment in areas such as employment and education. The video discusses the debate around affirmative action in the context of color blindness, suggesting that race-based policies like affirmative action could be replaced with class-based alternatives to fight inequality more effectively.

💡Racial Bias

Racial bias is a form of prejudice that favors or discriminates against individuals based on their race or ethnicity. The video discusses the issue of racial bias in policing and suggests that colorblind solutions, such as traffic cameras, can help reduce this bias by eliminating the human element that may introduce racial discrimination.

💡Traffic Cameras

Traffic cameras are used to monitor and enforce traffic laws, such as catching speeders or those running red lights. The video presents traffic cameras as an example of a colorblind policy that can help reduce racial bias in law enforcement by removing the potential for human bias in issuing tickets.

💡Restaurant Revitalization Fund

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund is an example of a race-based policy mentioned in the video that aimed to help restaurants affected by the pandemic. However, the policy initially allowed only people of color, women, and veterans to apply, leading to legal challenges and accusations of discrimination. The video uses this example to illustrate the unintended consequences and the potential for double discrimination in race-based policies.

💡Color Brave

Being 'color brave' is a concept introduced by Mellody Hobson in a previous TED Talk, suggesting that instead of being colorblind, one should acknowledge and address racial issues directly. The video's speaker, Coleman Hughes, engages with this idea by arguing that color blindness is not about ignoring the problem of racism but about adopting a philosophy that treats everyone equally regardless of race.

Highlights

The exercise to visualize one's best friend and the traits that define them, excluding physical appearance and race, emphasizes the importance of inner qualities over racial identity.

The speaker suggests that society's focus on racial identity has increased over the past decade, leading to a crisis in race relations.

Gallup data is presented to show a significant decline in positive feelings about race relations between 2013 and the present.

The concept of 'color blindness' is introduced as a misunderstood philosophy that aims to treat people without regard to race.

Criticism of color blindness is addressed, arguing that it is not naive, nor a form of white supremacy, but a principle for equal treatment.

The historical roots of color blindness are traced back to the radical antislavery movement of the 19th century, emphasizing its progressive origins.

The speaker refutes the idea that color blindness would hinder the fight against racism, proposing class-based policies as a more effective approach to reducing inequality.

Class is posited as a better proxy for disadvantage than race, with the argument that class-based policies are more universally accepted and less controversial.

The failure of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund is cited as an example of a disastrous race-based policy that led to discrimination against both white men and women/people of color.

Traffic cameras as a colorblind solution to racial bias in policing is presented, highlighting the effectiveness of technology in reducing human bias.

The speaker calls for the application of color blindness in various aspects of life, including grading papers without knowing the students' names, as a means to eliminate bias.

Color blindness is advocated as the best principle for governing a multiracial, multiethnic democracy and for reducing tribal conflict in the long term.

The importance of embracing color blindness in the fight against racism is emphasized, urging decision makers to implement colorblind processes.

A counterargument is presented in the form of a question from Chris Anderson, suggesting that color blindness might ignore certain aspects of racial disparity.

The speaker responds to the counterargument by advocating for a dual approach: maintaining colorblind standards while addressing root causes and investing in communities.

The conclusion calls for immediate action towards embracing color blindness and not waiting for a hypothetical moment when society is ready for it.

Transcripts

I want to do a quick exercise.

Close your eyes.

I want you to picture your best friend.

Think about what specifically you love about them.

What trait makes them them?

Now open your eyes.

I don't know what each of you came up with,

but I'm pretty sure I know what you didn't come up with.

I’m pretty sure none of you thought,

"What makes Jim Jim is the fact that he's six-foot-two and a redhead."

I'm guessing you chose their inner qualities,

their sense of humor,

their generosity, their intelligence,

qualities they would have no matter what they looked like.

There's one more quality I'm pretty sure you didn't choose.

Their race.

Of all the things you could list about somebody,

their race is just about the least interesting you can name,

right down there with height and hair color.

Sure, race can be good source material for jokes at a comedy club,

but in the real world,

a person's race doesn't tell you whether they're kind or selfish,

whether their beliefs are right or wrong,

whether they'll become your best friend or your worst enemy.

But over the past ten years,

our societies have become more and more fixated on racial identity.

We've all been invited to reflect on our inner whiteness or inner Blackness,

as if these racial essences define who we are.

Meanwhile, American society has experienced the greatest crisis

in race relations in a generation.

Gallup has been asking Americans how they feel about race relations,

and this chart is the result.

So as you can see, between 2001 and 2013,

most Americans felt good about race relations.

Then both lines take a nosedive.

It's no exaggeration to call this one of the greatest crises of our time.

And clearly we need new ways of thinking about race

if we're going to reverse this trend.

So today I'm going to offer an old idea,

but it's an idea that's been widely misunderstood.

You've probably heard it before, it's called color blindness.

What do I mean by color blindness?

After all, we all see race.

We can't help it.

And what's more, race can influence how we're treated

and how we treat other people.

So in that sense, nobody is truly colorblind.

But to interpret the word colorblind so literally

is to misunderstand it.

Colorblind is a word like warmhearted.

It uses a physical metaphor to capture an abstract idea.

To call someone warmhearted isn’t to talk about the temperature of their heart

but about the kindness of their soul.

And similarly, to advocate for color blindness

is not to pretend you don't notice race.

It's to support a principle

that we should try our best to treat people without regard to race,

both in our personal lives and in our public policy.

And you might be thinking, what's so controversial about that?

Well, the fact is the philosophy of color blindness is under attack.

Critics say that it's naive

or that we're not yet ready for it as a society

or even that it's white supremacy in disguise.

And many people agree with these feelings.

For example, a few years ago,

a young adult fantasy author came under pressure

to halt the release of her new book.

Why?

Because the marketing blurb for the book went like this:

"In a world where the princess is the monster,

oppression is blind to skin color,

and good and evil exist in shades of gray ..."

Now that one sentence clause

about oppression being blind to skin color,

describing a fantasy world, mind you,

was enough to provoke an online backlash.

Now, part of this reaction to color blindness

is actually a fault of its advocates.

People will say things like,

“I don’t see color” as a way of expressing support for color blindness.

But this phrase is guaranteed to produce confusion

because you do see color, right?

I think we should all get rid of this phrase

and replace it with what we really mean to say,

which is, "I try to treat people without regard to race."

Now, that said,

most of the pushback to color blindness comes from critics

who misrepresent it as somehow a conservative idea.

Now, this could not be further from the truth.

The philosophy of color blindness does not come from conservatives.

It actually comes from the radical wing of the antislavery movement

in the 19th century.

The earliest mentions of color blindness come from Wendell Phillips,

who was the president of the American Anti-Slavery Society

and a man whose nickname was "abolition's golden trumpet."

He believed in immediate full equality for Black Americans.

And in 1865, he called for the creation of a "government colorblind,"

by which he meant the permanent end of all laws that mention race.

What about the other critiques of color blindness?

Wouldn’t color blindness render us unable to fight racism?

Wouldn't it mean getting rid of policies like affirmative action

that benefit people of color?

I believe that eliminating race-based policies

does not equal eliminating policies meant to reduce inequality.

It simply means that those policies should be executed

on the basis of class instead of race.

Why class over race?

I'll give two reasons.

First because class is almost always a better proxy

for true disadvantage than race.

Imagine we picked ten Americans at random.

And our task is to sort them from least privileged on one end

to most privileged on the other.

Now, there's no direct measure of privilege,

so we have to choose a proxy measure.

My claim here is that lining them up by income or wealth

would get us closer to achieving that task

than simply lining people up by race.

That's what I mean when I say that class is usually a better proxy

for disadvantage than race.

And the second reason is that class-based policies tend to be more popular

and less controversial because they don't penalize anyone

for immutable biological traits.

Think of policies like need-based financial aid

or the earned-income tax credit.

These are policies that address inequality

without anyone having to feel the sting of racial discrimination.

I want to give you an example of a disastrous race-based policy.

It was called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

Over 70,000 restaurants closed in 2020 due to the pandemic,

and this fund allocated 29 billion dollars to help these restaurants.

But for the first three weeks of the program,

only people of color, women and veterans could apply.

So soon after it began,

white male restaurant owners sued, alleging discrimination.

A judge ruled in their favor, and the program was stopped.

But by that time, two thirds of the money was already gone.

And it wasn't just white men that got discriminated against in this policy.

Around 3,000 women and people of color were promised money

before the judge stopped the program

and then unpromised that money just after.

And the remaining 10 billion then went to white men

who had initially been put at the back of the line.

So the net result of this policy was a double dose of discrimination.

Initially, thousands of white men were discriminated against

and then thousands of women and people of color were discriminated against.

And it's a virtual guarantee

that there are people out there who lost their restaurant

in both of those camps because they were the wrong skin color.

Can anyone really argue

that a colorblind program wouldn't have produced better results for everybody?

So I just gave an example of a disastrous race-based policy.

Now, I want to give you an example

of a colorblind policy that has worked quite well.

America has been struggling with the issue of racial bias in policing

for a very long time.

And a solution to one aspect of this problem

is to issue tickets using traffic cameras instead of human beings.

Cops can be racially biased, consciously or not,

but traffic cameras, red light cameras and speeding cameras can't.

So you would think anyone interested in reducing racial bias in policing

would support these traffic cameras.

But you'd be wrong.

Some have opposed them on the grounds

that they don't yield statistically equal ticketing rates by race,

and they remain illegal in many US states.

So here's an example

where the philosophy of color blindness cuts through confusion like a knife.

If we’re guided by color blindness,

our goal should be to eliminate bias from systems that affect people's lives

wherever possible,

not to manufacture statistically equal outcomes by any means necessary.

So my talk has been focused on America,

but my message is really for any key decision maker

at any institution anywhere in the world.

If you care about fighting racism, embrace color blindness.

Support class-based policies.

Create colorblind processes in your own world.

If you're a professor,

grade your students' papers blind to their names.

Think creatively about how to apply color blindness to your life.

Color blindness is the best principle by which to govern a multiracial,

multiethnic democracy.

It's the best way to lower the temperature of tribal conflict in the long run.

And if we wait for the moment when society is ready for it,

we'll be waiting forever.

Thank you.

(Applause)

Chris Anderson: Coleman, thank you for this.

You know, Mellody Hobson came to TED a few years ago,

and she had a very different message for us.

She said, be color brave, not colorblind.

Her argument was that being colorblind is dangerous

because it's effectively ignoring the problem.

What would you want to say to her?

Coleman Hughes: Yeah.

One thing I would say is, like I said,

color blindness as a philosophy, that is the goal.

That's an idea that comes from the anti-slavery movement, right?

That's not an example of ignoring the problem.

That's an example of having the best philosophy

with which to address the problem, in my view.

CA: But could you argue that that dealt with one part of the problem

but in today's world, there are still many situations where it's not enough.

Take this story of an orchestra, right,

an orchestra, and it's largely white.

And that doesn't feel right.

So they institute a policy of color blindness where,

you know, there can't be any racial discrimination

because new musicians are auditioned behind a screen.

That's colorblind.

So, so far, so good.

And maybe that helps.

But maybe the actual situation

is that the minority kids in that area

just don't have access to instruments,

it's just harder for them ever to get the kind of training and stuff they need.

And the orchestra needs to be taking a lead to bring people through

so that there are people in that orchestra who can inspire the kids

and so forth.

CH: Yeah, so I would propose a different --

So if I were leading that orchestra, what I would do is I'd say,

let's continue to audition everyone behind the veil,

be colorblind in that sense,

and then let's separately invest in the community

so that we can get kids instruments when they're young

and then judge them by a colorblind standard

when they come to audition.

See, if you rig it at this level,

then you're just changing the bar by which you would measure progress

to begin with, right?

So I think that is a kind of an artificial solution,

whereas we want to maintain colorblind standards,

but actually address the root causes of the problem.

(Applause)

CA: Coleman, you're an incredibly powerful voice on this issue,

and I really thank you for the courage to come here, make this case.

Good luck with the book.

CH: Thank you, TED.