Abstract
The issue of racism in America continues to be an important topic, particularly in reference to whether and to what extent it still exists and continues to impact the life chances of racial and ethnic minorities. This article examines Bonilla-Silva’s theory of color-blind racism within the context of attitudes of respondents in Harris County, Texas, toward the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Data from the 2006 and 2010 Houston Area Surveys are used to address whether color-blind racism frames impact citizen attitudes toward the evacuees and whether that impact differs pre- and post-Obama’s presidential election. The logistic and ordinal regression analyses reveal support for the impact of color-blind racism frames, particularly that of cultural racism, on attitudes toward the evacuees. Additionally, that impact, although stronger in the 2006 data, persists in 2010. Limitations and implications for future research are also discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
As the variable affirmative action was not available in the 2010 Houston Area Survey, this model was also run omitting it. The only difference in results is that the variable welfare becomes significant at the .05 level.
The “other” race category consisted overwhelmingly of Hispanic respondents, with Asians consisting of <1 % of all respondents.
References
Bobo, L., Kuegel, J. R., & Smith, R. (1997). Laissez-faire racism: The crystallization of a kinder, gentler, antiblack ideology. In S. A. Tuch & J. K. Martin (Eds.), Racial attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and change (pp. 15–42). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (1997). Rethinking racism: Toward a structural interpretation. American Sociological Review, 62, 465–480.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001). White supremacy and racism in the post-civil rights era. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2003). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2010). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and racial inequality in contemporary America (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield.
Celestine-Michener, J. (2008). Racial attitudes in the 2008 election and beyond. Retrieved from 2008 and beyond website: http://www.2008andbeyond.com/wp-content/uploads/E08B_Memo_Racial_Attitudes.pdf.
Cole, A. P., Adams-Fuller, T., Cole, O. J., Kruglanski, A., & Glymph, A. (2007). Making sense of a hurricane: Social identity and attribution explanations of race-related differences in Katrina disaster response. In H. Potter (Ed.), Racing the storm: Racial implications and lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina (pp. 3–32). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Doane, A. (2007a). New song, same old tune: Racial discourse in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In K. A. Bates & R. S. Swan (Eds.), Through the eye of Katrina: Social justice in the United States (pp. 105–123). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
Doane, A. (2007b). The changing politics of color-blind racism. Research in Race and Ethnic Relations, 14, 159–174.
Gallagher, C. A. (2003). Color-blind privilege: The social and political functions of erasing the color line in post race America. Race, Gender and Class, 10(4), 22–37.
Garam, B. K., & Brooks, J. (2010). Students’ perceptions of race and ethnic relations post Obama’s election: A preliminary analysis. Race, Gender & Class, 17(3/4), 64–80.
Haider-Markel, D. P., Delehanty, W., & Beverlin, M. (2007). Media framing and racial attitudes in the aftermath of Katrina. The Policy Studies Journal, 35, 587–605.
Harris County Joint Information Center. (2005a). Mission fulfilled, command stands down. Retrieved July 6, 2008, from http://www.hcjic.org/news_release.asp?intRelease_ID=2078&intAcc_ID=62.
Harris County Joint Information Center. (2005b). Judge Robert Eckels and Mayor Bill White encourage additional volunteerism and applaud the volunteer spirit of the community. Retrieved July 6, 2008, from http://www.hcjic.org/news_release.asp?intRelease_ID=1961&intAcc_ID=62.
Hartmann, D., Gerteis, J., & Croll, P. R. (2009). An empirical assessment of whiteness theory: Hidden from how many? Social Problems, 56, 403–424.
Henkel, K. E., Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2006). Institutional discrimination, individual racism, and Hurricane Katrina. Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy, 6, 99–124.
Holcombe, E. (2007). Understanding community-based disaster response: Houston’s religious congregations and Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. In D. L. Brunsma, D. Overfelt, & J. S. Picou (Eds.), The sociology of Katrina: Perspectives on a modern catastrophe (pp. 107–119). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Huddy, L., & Feldman, S. (2006). Worlds apart: Blacks and whites react to Hurricane Katrina. Du Bois Review, 3, 97–113.
Kent, J. D. (2005). 2005 Louisiana hurricane impact atlas (Vol. 1). Retrieved March 19, 2006, from http://lagic.lsu.edu/images/hurricanes/2005_LAGIC_HURRICANE_ATLAS.pdf.
Kruse, R. J., I. I. (2009). The geographical imagination of Barack Obama: Representing race and space in America. Southeastern Geographer, 49, 221–239.
Lee, M. R., Weil, F. D., & Shihadeh, E. S. (2007). The FEMA trailer parks: Negative perceptions and the social structure of avoidance. Sociological Spectrum, 27, 741–766.
Love, B. L., & Tosolt, B. (2010). Reality or rhetoric? Barack Obama and post-racial America. Race, Gender & Class, 17(3/4), 19–37.
Moon, D. G., & Hurst, A. (2007). “Reasonable racism:” The “new” white supremacy and Hurricane Katrina. In K. A. Bates & R. S. Swan (Eds.), Through the eye of Katrina: Social justice in the United States (pp. 125–145). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
O’Brien, E. (2008). The racial middle: Latinos and Asian Americans living beyond the racial divide. New York: New York University Press.
O’Brien, L. T., Dube, R., Adams, G., & Nelson, J. C. (2009). Understanding white Americans’ perceptions of racism in Hurricane Katrina-related events. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 12, 431–444.
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1994). Racial formation in the United States from the 1960s to the 1990s (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Patterson, T. (2011). Katrina evacuees shift Houston’s identity. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/12/katrina.houston/index.html.
Potter, H. (2007). Reframing crime in a disaster: Perception, reality, and criminalization of survival tactics among African Americans in the aftermath of Katrina. In H. Potter (Ed.), Racing the storm: Racial implications and lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina (pp. 51–65). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Rich, M. A. (2011). “Socioeconomic diversity is overrated:” White attitudes on race and class in a racially integrated neighborhood. Sociological Spectrum, 31, 525–553.
Shelton, J. E., & Coleman, M. N. (2009). After the storm: How race, class, and immigration concerns influenced beliefs about the Katrina evacuees. Social Science Quarterly, 90, 481–496.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). New York: Allyn and Bacon.
Warren, D. M. (2012). Constructing “the other:” Media representations of Katrina evacuees in Houston, Texas. Race and Justice, 2, 93–113.
Wise, T. (2009). Between Barack and a hard place: Racism and white denial in the age of Obama. San Francisco, CA: City Lights.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Warren, D.M. Color-Blind Racism in Post-Obama America: An Examination of Attitudes Toward Hurricane Katrina Evacuees in Houston, Texas. Race Soc Probl 5, 213–225 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9090-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9090-1