How Color-Blind Ideology Affects African Americans' and Latinos' Understanding of Their Relationships

in recent years, comparative ethnic studies has undergone a major renaissance. Increasingly, this work seeks to understand the experiences of multiple racial/ ethnic groups or illuminate processes within the larger racial formation. Within this literature, as well as in the larger society, the subject of Latina/o and African American relations has attracted considerable attention for several reasons. First, these two groups constitute the largest populations of color in the United States, with numerous implications. As historian Albert Camarillo has pointed out, seven of the ten largest cities are now minority-majority cities with important consequences for governance, representation, and social justice.1 Equally important is the fact that the growing Latina/o population may pose significant challenges to the current racial formation as it carves out a new racial position for itself. The contours of this new formation are still unclear, as are the implications for African Americans. Finally, the media have been instrumental in highlighting tensions. While certainly some conflict exists, it is unclear whether it has actually increased. What has increased, however, is the reportage of hostility. In her study of the Los Angeles Times, Grant Nieva found that 70