Resolved, Society must sooner embrace colorblindness

On the night of September 28, joined by our speaker Kenny Xu of Color Us United, the Cornell Political Union debated whether we ought to quickly move towards a colorblind society, one which disregards racial identity from all considerations of life.

A key argument in favor of the resolution spoke on the contradictory nature of the practice of Color consciousness for the sake fo racial equality. When it comes to the goal of minimizing the harmful effects racial identity has had in the past, we mustn't move to denying certain people opportunities on the basis of their skin color, particularly for such life-altering decisions as university admissions.

A key argument in opposition to the resolution spoke on the denialism that a color blind society demands. It is evident that systemic oppression in the past yields permanent, and currently active, effects on people's lives on the basis of their racial identity. Pursuing a colorblind society would be denying this deleterious effects, undermining the goal of racial equality by refusing to acknowledge that there is racial inequality.

After an exceptionally engaged debate, and some final comments from our speaker, the Union ultimately voted against the resolution, and thus it failed to carry.