Color-blind language like ‘community integrity’ could package segregation acceptably

Evidence

If a contested area lacked “community integrity,” the WSMDC stepped aside and let racial transition continue. But if the WSMDC decided that an area indeed had “integrity,” it threw its considerable strength behind private efforts to maintain the racial status quo. When a reporter asked Alexander if the “community integrity” standard wasn’t “merely a polite way of masking segregation,” the black realtist disagreed. “It has gotten away from the idea of fixed boundary lines, buffer zones, and all the rest,” he explained. “I couldn’t sell that to Negroes. But we can buy the idea of community integrity.” Indeed, Alexander liked the idea so much that he convinced the WSMDC to adopt “We Protected the Integrity of Communities” as its official slogan. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 189

Categorization

• SEED: Direct documentary evidence that segregationist ideology was deliberately reinvented in race-neutral civic language; core material for the reader’s stated project.
• XREF: Echoes how ‘community character’ and ‘neighborhood character’ function in contemporary land-use and zoning debates; connects to later color-blind suburban conservatism. — connects to: Color-blind respectability politics marginalized open segregationists — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 95; Forcing colorblindness or identity forsaking backfires and worsens intergroup relations — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 577; Color-blind ideology masks ongoing discrimination while appearing egalitarian — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1850 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Color-blind policy would perpetuate racial segregation without affirmative dismantling #corroborates (0.92) — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 342
• Color-blind ideology masks ongoing discrimination while appearing egalitarian #corroborates (0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1850
• Politically coded language can carry racial meaning without naming race #expands (0.88)
• Moralized character language masked race-coded political exclusion in Indies administration #exemplifies (0.85) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 802
• Color-blind rhetoric reframed race-specific remedies as the true racism #exemplifies (0.83) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 302
• Algorithmic tools can reduce racial bias by excluding race and context from legal decisions #contradicts (0.82) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1172
• Superficial diversity strategies conceal rather than resolve persistent representational racism #expands (0.82)
• Racist meaning can be conveyed without explicit racial reference #expands (0.80)
• Forcing colorblindness or identity forsaking backfires and worsens intergroup relations #expands (0.78) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 577