“We have to dissect that stuff [media] and critically analyze it,” said Dr. Marc Lamont Hill. “Our goal shouldn’t be post-racial, it should be post-promise.”
Post-racial can be defined as the notion that we have entered a time that race does not pose any problems. The most familiar association with post-racial beliefs in the media is the fact that we have a black president and therefore, we have reached a new age in our society. (You can see an interview with Obama and his views on post-racial issues below)
In 2008 the news that a black male had been elected president echoed a cry of joy (and disapproval) from around the world. Phrases like, “racism is dead”, and “equality for all races” started to become a belief.
Well I have news for you.
Just because we have Barack Obama as our 44th U.S. President does not mean that we have miraculously solved all of our problems of racism and prejudice.
Having a person of color in a position of power does not automatically undo the hundreds of years of systematic oppression that people of color have experienced.
This ‘post-racial’ view point is nothing but a mirage.
In an article from University of Delaware, Jelani Cobb said, “The night Barack Obama was elected, black unemployment was still significantly higher that white unemployment. So a single electoral reality was not going to change the socioeconomic reality of millions of people.”
It’s going to take some work to reach a post-racial society and it’s going to take some difficult conversations as well.
As said in a post by Kwame Appiah,“it would take a massive and focused effort of education, in schools and in public culture, to move into a postracial world. The dream of a world beyond race, unfortunately, is likely to be long deferred.”
“Don’t take all this information and not do anything because there are too many people who don’t do anything,” said Dr. Hill.
In this way, Dr. Hill encourages us to have these difficult conversations to truly achieve a ‘post-racial society’.
