Robert L. Terrell

I consider it appropriate to take this immediate post-election moment to comment on what people seem to mean when they assert that the United States has entered a post-racial era.  To a certain extent, I concur.  The most obvious proof that this is the case is the disconcerting veneration currently accorded President-elect Barack Obama. 

Never in my memory has the nation’s attention and allegiance shifted to the President-elect so quickly, and so definitively.  The completely startling demand that President Bush simply resign immediately so that the nation’s actual leader (Barack Obama) can get on with it is being bandied about in public with such casual scorn is more proof than we need that the nation is eager to get on with the real deal of post-racialism.

 I am good with all that.  But it seems to me that we ought, before we rush head-on into synchronized cultural unity and multiracial bliss, take a moment or two to pause and consider some of the more savory dimensions of that which has been achieved.  For example, I am particularly impressed by the depth and breadth of the transition in consciousness and behavior of white Americans.  At the risk of being taken as utterly too casual, I might assert that a critical mass of white people has finally gotten hip. 

There were signs of the historic transition’s emergence for years.  Indeed, long before Obama appeared on the horizon bearing audacious dreams, an endearing smile, and that surprisingly graceful jump shot, there were numerous indications that white America was undergoing a fundamental transition regarding matters pertinent to race, and the horrid traditions of racism embraced by the composite community for generations.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision in Brown-v-Board of Education was an obvious early harbinger of a new kind of America, one where racial separatism was to be banished—via “all deliberate speed.”  Through struggle, toil, and courage that at times appeared hopelessly naive, progress was made toward transforming that exhortation into civil social reality.  Obama’s election is the very best proof we have so far that the nation has made the journey from white supremacy, massive resistance, and hesitant, ambivalent integration to post-racialism.

Now that the deed is–at the very least symbolically done–we find ourselves living in a national civil environment that exudes radically different cultural and psychological vibes.  I feel it in every exchange with people of different races I encounter as I make my daily rounds.  People are more relaxed with each other, and there is a marked tendency on the part of everyone to assume goodwill.  I hear it in the voices of people on radio, and television exudes a different quality toward things racial that is much more honest and direct that ever before.  For the most part, everyone appears to be deeply pleased by that which has been accomplished.

As indicated by the legal skullduggery, and casually acknowledged bias associated with the recently completed O.J. Simpson trial in Las Vegas, racial problems remain.  One need only examine the racial characteristics of the nation’s prison population, or statistics pertinent to poverty, school performance, and the racial dimensions of the current housing crisis in order to be reminded that much work remains to be done in order to make post-racialism something more than a new style consisting more of wishful thinking than cold, hard reality. 

Nonetheless, there is obviously good, common agreement in much of the nation that we have moved into a new era where race is concerned.  One of the best indications that this is so is the extent to which white people have taken the lead in challenging remnants of racism.  I might cite ongoing responses to the Katrina disaster in order to elaborate the point.  In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, it seemed to me that people of color, African Americans in particular, were the ones most prone to castigate the Bush administration’s criminal ineptitude, and race-based insensitivity.

With the passage of time, blacks, and most other people of color, moved on to address problems considered more pressing.  We have not forgotten the lessons of the Katrina Holocaust (we never will).  But we realize that current problems must take precedence. 

Given this, I have been completely surprised, and considerably impressed, by the large number of white people who continue to excoriate the Bush administration’s criminally inadequate response to Katrina.  I might note that I am similarly surprised by the frequency with which white students at the university where I teach cite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as their most important role model regarding ways in which they relate to matters of race and social policy.

As improbable as it might appear, the 9-11 tragedy, which engendered unprecedented national soul searching, also played an important role regarding the nation’s move into the current post-racial era.  If nothing else, the still unfolding tragedy forced us to deeply reflect on who we are, and what we stand for as a nation.  Unfortunately, the Bush administration looked backward in its search for proper modes of response.  Conversely, the people of the United States have decided that a different course of action is required.

 That’s one of the primary reasons why Barack Hussein Obama was elected to lead the nation.  And that’s why there is a strong possibility that the U.S. is gearing up for the task of recalibrating its domestic and foreign affairs in ways which will ultimately result in a smaller, smarter, less belligerent empire committed to race-neutral solutions to its problems. 

If you don’t believe I have this right, ask the educated young white people you encounter as you make your daily rounds what they consider the best policies for the United States to pursue in domestic and world affairs.  More often than not, I suspect you will be impressed by their hip, post-racial take on the world we live in, and their take-no-prisoners commitments to the pursuit of peace and justice—at home and abroad. 

 More power to them!