Barack Obama, Racial Progress, and the Future of Race
Relations in the United States
Barack Obama and the US as a "Post-Racial" Society: Racial Progress or the
Reinforcement of Color Blind Racism?
Although undeniably a milestone in US history, Obama's presidency might further
legitimize a problematic discourse on race that began in the aftermath of the Civil Rights
Movement. As is well known, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s had a
profound impact in terms of eradicating legal racial segregation and challenging overt
racial bigotry (e.g., Doane, 2003). Thus, for the past several decades, the claim is often
made that Americans live in a so-called "post civfl rights era" in which racism is an
anomalous or statistically fortuitous practice that has little impact on people's life chances
(Bonilla-Silva, 2006). As argued by William Julius Wilson (1980) three decades ago,
race in the United States, although by no means irrelevant, has "declined in significance."
At the same time, a large body of Uterature identifies various forms of racism that
emerged during this post-civil rights era. Terms such as "laissez faire racism" (Bobo,
Kluegel, and Smith, 1997), "symbolic racism" (Hughes, 1997), "new racism" (Bordila
Suva 2006), and "silent racism" (Trepagnier, 2007) have all been used to describe these
new strains. Notwithstanding some significant differences among them, a common theme
in all these discussions revolves around the issue of how racism in the post civil rights era
is not typically overt but rather hides behind liberal values associated with individualism,
free competition, meritocracy, and equality of opportunity.
According to various writers (e.g., Winant, 2004; Bonilla Silva, 2006), these liberal
values currently form part of a color blind ideology that encourages a denial of racial
differences while emphasizing the notion that everyone is the same. In doing so, all
meaningful challenges to the racial status quo are discredited and/or seen as forms of
reverse discrimination. As discussed by Ashley Doane (2003, p. 13), within this color
blind society, "those who are conscious of race or interject racial issues into a debate may
be accused of complaining, of seeking special treatment, of playing the race card, or even
of being racist."
Somehow overlooked by those who embrace color blind ideology is the fact that,
compared to Whites, Blacks in the United States are: three time more likely to live in
poverty (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2007a); nearly twenty times more likely to be
incarcerated for illegal drug use (Human Right Watch, 2000); more likely to receive substandard healthcare, even among Black patients whose incomes and health insurance
policies are comparable to that of their White counterparts (Wise, 2009, p. 62); twice as
likely to be unemployed (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2008a); less likely to graduate from
high school and attend college (U.S. Bureau of die Census, 2008b); six times more likely
to be victims of homicide (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005), and more likely to be
rejected for home mortgage prime loans and steered into sub-prime mortgages (Faber et
al., 2009). Interestingly, when confronted with these facts, many individuals who espouse
post-racial/color blind ideology are quick to claim that these inequalities are not "racial"
problems but rather products of racially neutral considerations such as differences in
lifestyles, individual determination, financial literacy, personal responsibility, and moral
values. In short, even if racial inequalities persist, these outcomes reflect differences in
values, individual ability, and personal choices as opposed to racial barriers.
The pervasiveness of color blind ideology is exempfified by the fact that racism in most
pubtic discussions is typically identified as something synonymous with atypical and
reprehensible acts perpetrated by irrational bigots. A focus by the mainstream media on
stories about isolated racial hate crimes or scandals involving celebrities who are caught
making racist slurs are examples of this proclivity. People, in effect, are chastised and
ridiculed when they are not "color blind" and display overt forms of racial prejudice or
discrimination. Nonetheless, by focusing merely on individual bigots, color blind
ideology turns racism into a privatized discourse that overlooks the social basis of this
problem (Giroux, 2004). Solutions, therefore, are also typically Umited to the private
realm. That is, encouraging individuals to make the necessary personal adjustments to
repeal racial animosities is supported by most people, but the need to challenge the
foundational structures that continue to support racial inequalities in various areas of
social life is too often ignored or overshadowed by the post civil rights emphasis on
remaining racially neutral and treating all people as atomized individuals.
Esposito, L., & Finley, L.. (2009). Barack Obama, Racial Progress, and the Future of Race Relations in the
United States. Western Journal of Black Studies, 33(3), 164-175. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from
Platinum Periodicals. (Document ID: 1958226821).