PIERCING THE VEIL OF COLORBLINDNESS WITH AN ANTI-RACIST IDENTITY: SENSEMAKING, POWER, AND THE REPRODUCTION OF RACIALIZED SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY.

University of Massachusetts Boston Business schools, like their universities, reproduce racialized socioeconomic inequality. Few empirical studies examine how such reproduction occurs or is challenged. Recently, some institutions have issued anti-racist proclamations (ARPs) suggesting willingness to dismantle racialized structures. Our qualitative study examines the impact of ARPs on a U.S. business school and its university by asking: How do organizational members’ perceptions of, and responses to, ARPs facilitate the reproduction or challenging of racialized socioeconomic inequality? By analyzing interviews, focus groups, and archival data, we find that ARPs generate positive responses but also face opposition, with some advocating a return to a colorblind approach. Findings show the political dynamics activated in attempts to oppose and enact anti-racism. We introduce interpellative sensemaking to theorize how individuals are recruited into ideological battles over racialized systemic power structures. Our findings highlight how ambiguity and fear—of being “too woke” or “not woke enough”—play out differently across racialized positional-ities, impeding effective anti-racism. Our “bigger picture” framework (Lindebaum, 2024) reveals colorblind ideology’s role in maintaining racialized socioeconomic inequality. We argue for management educators to adopt colorbraveness—an approach that intentionally, reflexively, and accountably counters persistent racialized inequalities. We offer policy and practical suggestions for enacting colorbraveness in business schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]