Stray thoughts on the "post-racial" era

We value the individual and autonomy in this country. But the burden of race is that we feel pressured to represent a people, that our actions as individuals are somehow representative of our race. And this burden is heaped upon us not just by racists (who take every negative headline as indicative of the whole), but by our families and friends (who expect exemplary behavior, as in, "you gotta represent" or "you gotta be twice as good as your white competitor").

Barack Obama surely felt this pressure in ways that I can only imagine. Many people were disappointed that he so rarely addressed race in a direct way. Sometimes I was, but more often I was sympathetic. And I was impressed with his ability to combine an acknowledgment of historic and systemic wrongs (through his community organizing work) with a call for personal responsibility (pull up your pants, and take care of your kids).

I don't buy the assertion that Obama represents a post-racial dialogue. Rather, now that he is going to be President, I am hopeful that we can have new conversations about race, ones that include new ideas for the unfinished fight for civil rights and immigration, and prioritizes building communities (plural) and leaders (definitely plural).