Post-Nothing
A year ago, the American media was quick to declare the budding Obama presidency a result of a new, post-racial America. It sounded nice, as though the traditional biases held by average Americans had finally been dropped and America, now free of bigotry, would emerge victoriously as a completely accepting nation.
However, racial discrimination in America has not ended. Some of it, in fact, is aimed at the president who seemed to be above it all, like the often made- sometimes even by elected officials- claims that President Obama was not born in the United States, but rather, in Kenya.
“Barack Obama's presidency will not deal a death blow to racism. Racial inequality still affects the quality of the air we breathe, the quality of our health, the likelihood of being erroneously shot by police, the likelihood of being poor, of having little education and of being unemployed. Race is sticky and racism is real. Being black will still mean living poorer and dying younger,” wrote Mellissa Harris-Lacewell, an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, in a piece for The Nation in 2008. In the piece, Lacewell talks of the great strides made by the African-American community, both separate from and due to the election of Barack Obama. Still, Lacewell acknowledges that his presidency will not mean a post-racial America. Rather, it will lead to a more racially-empowering America.
Another epithet the media likes to attach to America when referring to the Obama presidency is ‘post-partisan’. But as the health care debate has shown, Washington is anything but. The American people and their representatives are now more polarized than ever, partisan politics suddenly becoming imperative to survival in Washington. The media may wish to, in the future, about declaring America done with any terrible action or unfortunate habit.
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