Color-blind policies still operate in an historically racialized American society.

Evidence

And “color-blind” policies are also racialized. To understand this it is indispensable to understand today’s context in light of history, because US society has always been racialized. … The presence of black people is inherent, along with gender and family ties, in the earliest lesson every child is taught regarding his or her distinctiveness. Africanism is inextricable from the definition of Americanness - from its origins on through its integrated or disintegrating twentieth-century self. (Morrison, 1992:65) To pretend race has not been central is a fallacy; and to organize society as if it is irrelevant will only exacerbate racialized inequalities. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1837

Categorization

• XREF: Morrison’s claim that ‘Africanism is inextricable from the definition of Americanness’ resonates with the reader’s interest in how foundational cultural categories get built. — connects to: Formal colorblindness preserves racial inequality in privatized, unnamed form. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 129; A losing busing fight still reshaped national politics toward color-blindness. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 113