Spring Break
notes from the desk: The myth of a post-racial generation
Theodore May
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Opinions
There is a new and disturbing trend in U.S. race relations - the media has declared, and college students have embraced, that we belong to the "post-racial generation." Though the term goes back a ways, it gained momentum in the media when the country's youth began to show its commitment to the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama.
When I first heard the term, I began to throw it around with a sense of pride. I told my friends about it and encouraged them to use it. We were writing the next chapter in this country's racial history. Though "post-racial generation" has not entered our generation's popular lexicon, I began to see the idea of it reflected in the attitudes of college students. And that's when I began to worry.
I remember reading a review of the movie "Crash" in which the author suggests that the film had gotten it all wrong. "Crash," the reviewer argued, presented racism today as something that's bold and in-your-face. To the contrary, the real problem with racism nowadays, he argued, is that it is sinister in its subtlety. It can be quiet and inter-woven into the fabric of our culture, making it ever-difficult to confront head-on.
Getting to the point - I fear that our generation's support for Obama will lead us to become inappropriately, and dangerously, complacent with the status of race relations in this country. We still have a lot of work to do, and it's challenging work given the sometimes illusive nature of racism in our society today.
Looking back at an important speech that Obama gave at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in January, I was struck by how even the candidate himself warned against complacency and in turn urged action.
"The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed," Obama said. "And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know, to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources, sacrifice and stamina."
When I first heard the term, I began to throw it around with a sense of pride. I told my friends about it and encouraged them to use it. We were writing the next chapter in this country's racial history. Though "post-racial generation" has not entered our generation's popular lexicon, I began to see the idea of it reflected in the attitudes of college students. And that's when I began to worry.
I remember reading a review of the movie "Crash" in which the author suggests that the film had gotten it all wrong. "Crash," the reviewer argued, presented racism today as something that's bold and in-your-face. To the contrary, the real problem with racism nowadays, he argued, is that it is sinister in its subtlety. It can be quiet and inter-woven into the fabric of our culture, making it ever-difficult to confront head-on.
Getting to the point - I fear that our generation's support for Obama will lead us to become inappropriately, and dangerously, complacent with the status of race relations in this country. We still have a lot of work to do, and it's challenging work given the sometimes illusive nature of racism in our society today.
Looking back at an important speech that Obama gave at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in January, I was struck by how even the candidate himself warned against complacency and in turn urged action.
"The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed," Obama said. "And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know, to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources, sacrifice and stamina."
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Rita Prescott
posted 3/20/08 @ 10:03 PM EST
Yes, this article states the truth. Obama has not only shown us that many people in the country can join together to change our political status but his run for President has also shown us how far the citizens have to go to become a truly united and un-prejudiced country. (Continued…)
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