Postracism. Is it real?

Weekly Response 6: Kent A. Ono, “Postracism: A theory of the post-as political strategy,”Journal of Communication Inquiry 34, no. 3 (2010): 227-233.

COMM 605- Critical Methods and Digital Communication

*I use nonwhite to describe anyone who has a different ethnicity or complexion of the “standard English white person” because racism comes in all forms to anyone who is a minority.

            I remember sitting in my junior year AP English Class taught by Mr. Searle when he showed us the headlines of different major newspapers the day the results of the 2008 election came out. This was the first time I was introduced to the idea we are living in a post racist world. I grew up going to a school that had 100 students in its graduating class where a decent percentage were nonwhite. I grew up with the notion that racism meant being mean to other people because of their skin color, and while homophobia was strong at my school, I never saw people get picked on because of their skin color, so when I saw these headlines, I bought into the notion that we live in a postracist era. It wasn’t until I went to a small, Christian university where the percentage of students who were nonwhite were miniscule that I was introduced to systemic racism and what people who are nonwhite go through in their lives. At the Christian university, most people love talking theology, philosophy, world religions, and controversial topics where someone always plays devil advocate. Here I was taught what a world view was and how to open my mind to other’s worldviews to be able to understand and connect with more people.

            I think the biggest takeaway from the postracism discussion, is that we are talking about the wrong thing. This ideal allows the white person to salve their guilty conscious and bring the focus back on the white person. Postracism ideology takes away the voice of the nonwhite, which they have fought hundreds of years for that right. There are many layers to racism, and it is uncomfortable for someone to dive deep and find out how they are contributing to racism. People want to put a band aid on the much bigger issue of racism. This is one of the reasons that I thought it was so important that Donald Trump got elected President. When Barack Obama was elected President, America wanted to sweep racism under the wrong, and say we no longer have this issue. When Donald Trump was elected President, racists in all forms came out of the woodwork and spewed anger and hate. The band aid was ripped off, and we were able to take a glimpse of the vast problem of racism we still have in America. Will we ever be in a post-racist society? Probably not, and definitely not in my lifetime. The goal should be for us to always be analyzing our own thoughts and actions, and how we can continue to hold ourselves and others accountable.