Merriam-Webster adds new meaning for 'color-blind,' says it can show racism

Two months ago, Merriam-Webster added an explanatory note to its definition of the word "color-blind."

Though the term means "not influenced by differences of race," and especially "treating all people the same regardless of race," color-blind can also have a racist connotation, according to the influential dictionary.

The race-related sense of the word "can be used with positive connotations of freedom from racial prejudice," the note says, but "it often suggests a failure or refusal to acknowledge or address the many racial inequities that exist in society, or to acknowledge important aspects of racial identity."

The nearly 200-year-old publisher of reference works didn't announce the change, and its users apparently didn't notice. 

Brown University economist Glenn Loury, who signed the recent 1776 Unites statement against compulsory "anti-bias" training and hosts an interview show, told Just the News the change was "disturbing." Columbia University linguist John McWhorter, a prominent critic of "anti-racism" who also signed the statement, did not respond to queries.

The revised listing gives two examples of the negative connotation of "color-blind." One cites an Inside Higher Ed interview from last fall that says "[e]quitable instruction isn't colorblind" but is rather "responsive to students' unique and diverse backgrounds." The other cites a Washington Post essay from 2018 that said "white parents often refrain from speaking with their children about race, racism and racial inequality" but tend to use "colorblind rhetoric" when they do.