After passing a draconian immigration law based on a crime wave that doesn't exist and banning ethnic studies on the grounds that they breed "resentment" against white people, it's really hard to be surprised that Steve Blair, a city councilman in the town of Prescott is angry that a school mural depicts children of color instead of white children:
In a broadcast last month, according to the Daily Courier in Prescott, Blair mistakenly complained that the most prominent child in the painting is African-American, saying: "To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?"
Blair could not be reached for comment Thursday. In audio archives of his radio show, Blair discusses the mural. He insists the controversy isn't about racism but says the mural is intended to create racial controversy where none existed before.
This is another good example of how colorblind racism works. Colorblind racism, as a principle, works not to end racism but rather to render people of color invisible and discussions of racism beyond the pale in order to maintain white racial hegemony. Which is why in Blair's mind, there would be no racial controversy if there were no people of color. By acknowledging that people of color exist, one "creates racial controversy." The only way to end racial controversy, therefore, is for white people to be dominant and people of color to be invisible, only then can we be judged by the content of our character.
After facing weeks of racial slurs hurled from passersby, the artists painting the mural have been asked to lighten the children's faces, although the principal insists that it has nothing to do with race.
h/t Wonkette
-- A. Serwer
