Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The historical development of the Seattle Plan for Quality Integration, can be characterized as yet another example of the dismantling of desegregation policy. But to do so would dismiss the highly contingent and disjointed character of its path of development. Within Seattle’s policy for public school integration, the layered nature of public policies along with the dynamics between multiple political processes allowed space for continual changes in discourse concerning desegregation. The political capacity of those opposed to integration to continually, yet haltingly, gre in relation to those in favor of mandatory integration to slowly dismantle most pieces of racial integration as a result of these processes. They were able to articulate a version of colorblind conservatism throughout the 1980s that was increasingly aided by federal and court level commitments to ending desegregation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In the epic battle over affirmative action, the proponents are now beginning to claim victory in light of Grutter v. Bollinger. The colorblind conservative movement had enjoyed tremendous momentum in the mid- to late-1990s. How, then, did the colorblind momentum grind to such a rapid halt? This paper uncovers how colorblind conservatives have become marginalized from the broader conservative movement now that the Republican Party, corporations, and the military have largely come to accept affirmative action. As affirmative action is becoming increasingly institutionalized, the policy is transforming into a more conservative policy that is rooted in a diversity management, rather than anti-discrimination, logic. The colorblind movement has itself transformed over the past generation in two key dimensions. First, it is led by articulate men of color and women rather than by white men. Second, these minority conservatives have retreated from calling for Darwinian meritocracy, instead supporting creative, disadvantaged-based affirmative action reforms. This latest chapter in the affirmative action drama reveals neither a simple cooptation of affirmative action by the right nor a clear-cut affirmative action victory for the left. Instead, a political, cultural, and policy transformation is underway, culminating in the unlikely marriage of (a) a liberal policy that has lost much of its liberal core and (b) conservative institutions that have lost some of their conservative roots.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The contemporary colorblind movement projects a simple, concise vision of what it opposes: namely, race-based affirmative action. This paper draws attention to the many shades within the colorblind movement and the blurry lines that make it difficult to distinguish the colorblind movement from the race-based affirmative action movement. This paper demonstrates that the reformist wing of the colorblind movement has come to strategically embrace class-based affirmative action as a remedy. In doing so, the reformist wing has undercut much of the orthodox wing’s insistence on meritocracy, narrowly defined as admitting the most qualified and most deserving based on grades and test scores. The reformist wing of the colorblind movement has profited by thrusting men of color and women as its new leaders, which shelters the movement from accusations of perpetuating white male privilege. In the end, the rhetoric of both the activists who support and oppose race-based affirmative action have converged. The leading voices on both sides now voice compassion for the disadvantaged and support class-based or disadvantaged-based affirmative action. Both sides now tend to couch their policy reforms more through the language of opportunity, access, and diversity and less through the conservative language of merit and desert or the liberal language of group equality of outcome, reparation,
and compensation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Building on Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of la mestiza, I will explore a borderland rhetoric of whiteness that exists for many white allies working for anti-racism. Those who find themselves between the river bank of a coming to consciousness of whiteness privilege (a consciousness that does not appear one day, but is a lifetime process of awareness), a legacy of family and social circle racism, and within a dominant culture of other ignorant and/or complacent whites are ideologically torn by the racialized discourses into which they are born and move. Where should they practice listening, and where should they engage the argument?