Discussing his new book, Prof. Glenn C. Loury of Boston University spoke Monday night about his belief that ignoring the color of a person’s skin is not the way to solve racial inequality.
In a speech titled “Superficial Morality of Colorblindness” at this year’s annual Allison Davis lecture in Fisk Hall, Loury presented his stance on race relations to an audience of more than 40 people. In his book, “The Anatomy of Racial Inequality,” Loury said that although many believe colorblindness is moral, it is more harmful than helpful.
Loury spent most of his speech explaining what he believes is the context of race. He said that while his peers consider this term to be archaic due to its lack of biological foundation, he believes that the social disparities between people justify the term “race.”
“I am not uttering nonsense of expressing belief in something mythical when I say person ‘A’ is a member of race ‘X,'” Loury said.
Once establishing the credibility of his argument, Loury said that the disadvantaged status of blacks is caused by the “lingering effects of dishonor” brought by slavery.
Loury said there will never be much public support for helping disadvantaged groups because of a collective belief that these groups are “reaping what they sow.”
Loury said there are clear disparities between races. Instead of holding institutions responsible for inequality, he said the public often assumes that racial disparities exist because of intrinsic differences in the people.
To combat racism society must acknowledge the differences between races in order to create an environment that will give equal opportunities to all races, Loury said. The American public has spent too long acknowledging race to begin ignoring it now, he said.
“We are neutral too late in (the) game,” Loury said.
Loury criticized the public opinion that race is a problem of the past and said it is not something people should forget.
“We would never tell an antagonist in a society divided by religion to stop believing in a certain God. But this is what people are asking black Americans to do when they ask them to get over (racial problems).”
After the speech, some audience members asked Loury if he thought he received more attention because he switched from a conservative to a liberal stance.
“I was never a conservative in the first place,” Loury said.
Richard Iton, Assistant Professor of Political Science said he believed Loury has become more liberal.
“I found his explanations of previous conservatism intriguing. … He seemed to be going back on his previous beliefs,” Iton said.
For some students like Manya Treece, an Education freshman, the information was new and applicable to life at Northwestern.
“There is a huge disparity on campus and in the real world between the rhetoric about race relations and the reality,” Treece said.
