Colorblindness in the Public and Private Sphere

Coleman Hughes's book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America, has provoked a lot of discussion here and elsewhere. Though I have all the respect in the world for Coleman and his ideas, and I think his prominence is a net good for our racial discourse, I have some misgivings about his argument. Some of these misgivings, I have no trouble admitting, derive from my own particular history, upbringing, and social and intellectual development.