Racing Left and Right: Color-Blind Racism’s Dominance across the U.S. Political Spectrum

To date there has been very little scholarship that (1) traces the color-blind rhetoric of liberal or progressive communities, or (2) emphasizes the mainstream, color-blind rhetoric of far-right conservative movements. This article compares the racial politics at two ends of the U.S. political spectrum in order to demonstrate how color-blind ideology constitutes the dominant framework for understanding and discussing race and racial inequality in the United States. This racial ideology transcends political party and ideology, but also motivates individuals to do identity work constructing themselves as transcending racism. Grounded in a racial formations framework, I compare two distinct political locations, one consisting of liberal Democrats and progressives in a diverse urban community and the other among Tea Party organizers in one state, in order to demonstrate the similarities in racial discourse and identities, despite differing political orientations and goals.