The post-racial society is a theoretical perception of the United States as a country that is free from racial prejudice and segregation. The term was mainly used during the 2008 presidential elections that saw the victory of Barack Obama as the first black U.S. president. Therefore, many, as evidenced by public opinion, saw this as the beginning of the making of a society that was free from racism. The discussion will analyze the concept of post-racial society with regards to whether America has moved towards it or rather from it.
With regards to whether America is moving closer to becoming a post-racial society, many arguments have been postulated. Some have argued that the election of Barack Obama is an indicator that people are moving towards the post-racial society as preached by King while others still feel that forms of inequalities are still on the verge of being recreated. They further add that as much as change is celebrated, it is also met with an equal amount of resistance in various subtle ways.
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Bobo (2011) pointed out that Other than the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States; several black personalities have risen to positions of influence in a manner that depicts that the society is moving towards the post-racial period. Notable examples in this regards include Oprah Winfrey an entertainer, Colin Powel and Condoleezza Rice who have ventured into the political field, and Bill Cosby who had an influential show. Other than personalities, social aspects such as interracial and interethnic marriages have become more common and normal as opposed to the prior years where the Supreme Court regarded such marriages illegal back in 1967. The victory of President Barack Obama was viewed as the hallmark of moving towards the post-racial society. Bobo (2011) asserted that Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 stated that the Negro revolution had taken significant steps, but the effort to transform the revolution into reality was still a major challenge. In 2008 during his presidential campaign, Barack Obama was critical about the trivialization of his candidature along racial lines ( Bobo, 2011).
Despite Obama being the president for two terms, there is a general feeling that the United States is still deeply racially divided. Many people thought that the Obama presidency was the beginning the post-racial society that was color blind and free from any racial prejudice. However, several events that followed such as the killing of black men by the police debunked the myth of the post-racial optimism. Other factors that indicate that equality between the black and the white is far from realization include the former's high unemployment rate, high incidence of poverty, and low home ownership rate among others. Also, the blacks have cited poor and inhuman treatment particularly in the hands of the criminal justice system. The inequality has also been depicted when they handled by the white police (Weber, 2017 ‘Obama, Trump and the myth of post-racial America.’)
The term ‘post-racial' was coined in 2008 when Barack Obama was on the verge of making history by becoming the first black president of the United States amidst competition from white challengers. The post-racial as a term was used to describe a society that solidified and was free from historical racial prejudice and tension. The Obama presidency was seen as the only source of hope in creating a society that did not base judgment on the color of the skin but the content of the character as was earlier said by Martin Luther King Jr. However, Barack Obama noted that it was difficult to go beyond the racial divisions in one election cycle or just a single candidacy. People of goodwill in the U.S. have tirelessly fought racism. However, expressions of bias that are evident in the society such as inequitable access to quality education, poor academic expectations, criminal assumptions, incarceration of the blacks, and over-policing of people of a particular group all work towards increasing the fissures of racism that always threaten to destroy unity.
It is evident that the Obama presidency did not live up to the demands of the people with regards to the post-racial society. However, the ascending of Donald Trump into administration has been viewed by many as the end of the dream of a post-racial society. The general feeling is that Donald Trump has made racism an aspect that is acceptable in the society. Trump has over the past few months promoted policies that are viewed to promote racism such as the creation of a wall on the Mexican border, closure of refugee programs, and ban on the Muslims. Such sentiments were welcomed by a section of the white population which has been seeing it as a bid to reclaim the lost glory of America by emphasizing on white supremacy. The Trump administration has also been accused of curtailing various mechanism of black progress. They include a free press, the courts, constitutional protections, statutory protections, rights to vote, and a representative government among others. The speeches and various tweets posted by Donald Trump have also been accused of eliciting views that are geared towards dividing the country into racial segments (Debusmann, 2016 ‘The race problem in black and white.’)
Conclusion
The Obama presidency came with much anticipation that it would lead to post-racial America. However, the problems seemed to be deeply rooted in the systems and the way of thinking of the people that Barack Obama himself agreed that a single presidency was not capable of changing things altogether. The rise of Trump to the position is a major setback to the realization of the dream society due to his philosophy and principles. Hope is that, as the Martin Luther King Jr. said, a time shall come when the content of the character shall supersede the color of the skin.
References
Weber, (2017) ‘Obama, Trump and the myth of post-racial America.’ http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/sd-utbg-race-obama-trump-Weber-20170224-story.html
Debusmann, (2016) ‘The race problem in black and white.’ https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/twt/race-problem-black-and-white
Bobo, D, L. (2011). Somewhere between Jim Crow and post-racialism: reflections on the racial divide in America today. American Academy of Arts and Science. (108-116)
