Gillborn, D. (2019) Hiding in Plain Sight: Understanding and Addressing Whiteness and Color-Blind Ideology in Education. [Online] Kappa Delta Pi Record. Vol.55(3), pp.112-117. Available at: < https://doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2019.1622376> [Accessed 27 July 2022].

It is useful to remind ourselves that Whiteness and White people are different things. In general terms, Whiteness refers to a system of beliefs, practices, and assumptions that constantly centre the interests of White people, especially White elites. People who identify or are identified by others as White often act in the interests of Whiteness, but that is not automatic nor inevitable. White-identified people can challenge Whiteness, just as people of color can sometimes become vocal advocates for Whiteness. As Zeus Leonardo (2002) reminded us, “‘Whiteness’ is a racial discourse, whereas the category ‘white people’ represents a socially constructed identity, usually based on skin color” (p. 31). (Gillborn, 2019, p. 113)

Numerous critiques show how a claim to be blind to color—to simply treat all people alike—tends to benefit the already powerful by defending and extending White racial advantage (Bonilla- Silva, 2006; Burke, 2019; Haney-Lopez, 2007; Wells, 2014). (Gillborn, 2019, p. 113)

Color-evasiveness as an expanded racial ideology acknowledges that to avoid talking about race is a way to willfully ignore the experiences of people of color, and makes the goal of erasure more fully discernible. In other words, to use the term “evade” highlights an attempt to obliterate. (p. 156) (Gillborn, 2019, p. 114)

The term color evasion has several advantages; it makes clear that adopting this stance is a deliberate act. Color evasion is neither innocent nor passive; it is an active refusal to engage with race inequality. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 114)

In essence, the stand neatly acts as both color evasion (we shouldn’t talk about race) and racism denial (racism isn’t important enough to discuss). (Gillborn, 2019, p. 114)

asserting the absence of ethnicity, as if an ethnic identity is something that Other people have; hence, ethnic is often used as a code for non-White, and White is synonymous with “normal” (Delgado & Stefancic, 1997). (Gillborn, 2019, p. 114)

racism is redefined in the narrowest way possible as “irrational hatred.” This means that systemic inequities that persistently and significantly favor White people (e.g., in the economy, health, the criminal justice system, and education) are simply ruled out of bounds. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 115)

They are the dominant holders of power, and their move to protect their existing slice of the cake is not a romantic strategy to protect some folkloric image of red-cheeked children in an innocent past; it is an attempt to safeguard an oppressive and racist status quo. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 115)

White people exert disproportionate power and influence. They cannot merely look out for their own interests because, in contrast to Black and Latinx movements, for example, White movements are not pursuing equity and social justice; they are generally seeking to preserve inequity and injustice. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 115)

Nolan Cabrera (2019) has reacted to this frequent misunderstanding of the idea of privilege to argue that a more useful term is “White immunity.” That is, White people—even poor ones—expect to stand outside of certain threats and limits; they expect to be treated as race-less in a world that treats racial Others as by definition less-than Whites. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 116)

Antiracist work is emotionally, physically, and mentally tough. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 116)

when the calculations reveal that certain minoritized groups tend to be overrepresented in the least desirable statistics, the next step is to ask colleagues what we might do to change this. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 116)

It is both challenging and empowering to embrace the idea that, as educators, we have the power to make a difference—albeit a small one in some cases. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 117)

Involve people with expertise that you don’t yet possess. … The effort should also include reaching out to the very communities that currently experience the problems. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 117)

Whiteness is an enemy that hides in plain sight; the interests and voices of White-identified people are always front and center, and yet are usually seen as normal and unremarkable. (Gillborn, 2019, p. 117)