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Dominique Lomibao
Professor Ogbara
English 100 #0813
19 November 2014
eRace the Past
The essence of living in a post-racial society is that race should no longer be compelling
nor critical, but in todays society we are still judged based on the color of our skin. Race and
skin color are two very powerful things in this nation for which it can determine our future. This
wasnt always the case, the civil rights movement managed to abolish some of the racial doubts.
Everyone is equal and we are all capable of doing the same task but as time progresses people
are still not willing to let go of the past. Generation after generation we will always see some
type of racist act because it can happen practically such as; the park, grocery store, the bus or
maybe even at church. Racism is something the we cant escape as a society but only as
individuals. We are far from living in a post-racial society and according to my research many
suggest that as a nation we are not close to living in one. It is something that we can only dream
of for now and until I start to see a significant change in our community I am going to disagree
about living in a post-racial society. As a result of my research I have found many reasons why
we do dont live in a post-racial society.
According to Huffingtonpost the United States of America is not meant to live in a postracial society, simply because it is built in our Constitution. The article then adds, Race is hard.
Race is the hardest thing that the United States will ever have to face. It's harder than any threat
from Syria The issue of race has the potential to destroy this country because it's the most
dangerous weapon: It's one that we wield in our very own hands. Tr Easton the writer of this

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article presents how big race actually is by comparing it to Syria. Easton suggests that our race is
with us all the time, which makes it powerful. It is a ticking bomb waiting to explode and if we
dont do anything about it our society can erupt into a race war. We have to take it one day at
time in order to make a difference. Simply by not judging a person based on how they look and
by getting to know them first because they can be going through whatever you're going through
with your life. Living in a post-racial society means that we have to set race aside. Granted race
makes us all unique and diverse but if we use it for unpleasant reasons then why bother having it
if destroys our community. Putting race aside can open up many things for those who were
discriminated against. I am not saying Barrack Obama was discriminated against but in order for
him to become our president we had to vote for him. Before we voted for him we had to listen to
whatever he had to say about certain situations. After all of that as a community we thought
Obama had the best pitch and putting race aside we voted for him. Others might have not voted
for him because of the color of his skin or they didnt like what he had to offer. Obama came out
victorious in the presidential campaign and that shows skin color doesnt matter. If he can
become the President of the United States of America then we are capable of achieving anything
despite the color of our skin.
On the topic of Barrack Obama, most people dont know that he is actually half black and
half white. We repeatedly call him black because we are basing it off of the color of his skin. In a
Washington Post newspaper article Library of Congress Scholar Council member Marie Arana
mentions, After more than 300 years and much difficult history, we hew to the old racist rule:
Part-black is all black. Fifty percent equals a hundred. There's no in-between. Arana makes a
good point by saying, old racist rule because we are depending on our societies old traditions.
We are a completely new and different society and now is the time to modernize this so called

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rule. Changing how someone is called based on how they look and their culture makes us one
step closer to a post-racial society but we are going to need a lot more than this to live in one.
Barrack Obama becoming the President of the United States of America is another big step into
living in a post-racial society. Technically speaking in a modernized racial rule he is our first
bicultural president and not the first black president. Bicultural means that one person is mixed
by two different cultures. Some people have a difficult time describing someone who is mixed
and they immediately judge that person by one type of ethnicity from black to white and asian to
Mexican. Address that person by calling them bicultural or even a diverse individual. These little
things can eventually catch on and as time progresses we can eliminate calling someone by one
ethnicity when theyre not and appear a racist. You can appear as a racist because someone who
is black or African American can have European ancestors in this case you are judging them
based on the color of their skin. We dont need this especially if we are trying to live in a postracial society.
There has been many changes since slavery was eradicated. Although slavery doesnt
exist in our country anymore racism still does. A Los Angeles Times newspaper article states,
To some Americans145 years after the abolition of slavery, we can finally check race
relations off the list and move our focus to the other pressing problems that face the country.
Others say that's ridiculousthe work of creating a truly egalitarian, nondiscriminatory society
remains far from finished. Getting rid of slavery after 245 years of it being around is an
admirable achievement. Although, getting rid of slavery was a great accomplishment for this
nation it is the past and there are new problems occurring today in our society. Racism is
something that cant go away that easy. Even if the government starts a law about racism, it can
still exist. For example, even if a law is addressed people can still keep a racist comment to

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themselves. We are all honest and pure until we are justified as a racist. Donald Sterling the
previous owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team was recently called out for being a
racist. Mr. Sterling being a billionaire was living the dream of owning a professional basketball
team until one day his phone call was being recorded. In this phone call he began to say racist
remarks. If this phone call was never recorded and released no one would have ever expected
Donald Sterling to be a racist especially because he owns a team with Africa Americans. Anyone
can be a racist and this is a prime example on why racism will hover among us and until we do
anything about it, it will stick around.
There has been many events where racism got out of hand. Another sign that displays
why we dont live in a post-racial society is a more recent incident the Trayvon Martin shooting.
This incident got out of hand when a man by the name of George Zimmerman shot an African
American teenager through self-defense. Although the case wasnt clear the African American
community was frustrated. Post-racial society has to do with this because if Trayvon Martin was
another race Zimmerman probably wouldnt have shot him. If race wasnt involved the outcome
of this incident would have been completely different. Trayvon Martin would still be here with
us and this race tension between African Americans and whites in Florida wouldnt have broken
out. In a newspaper article written by Patrik Jonsson he mentions, The attacks put a sharper
edge on recent polling data, which show that whites and blacks view the Trayvon case
differently. Twice as many blacks and Hispanics as whites (73 percent versus 36 percent) say
race played a major role in the shooting If different races cant get along then there is no
doubt that we will never live in a post-racial society. Everyone has their own opinion when it
comes to different things. When the article mentions who voted in the poll about race playing a
role in the society, the blacks, Hispanics, and whites were being a little biased. They are

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obviously blaming one another in this situation because they both wanted the other to get in big
trouble. Zimmerman possible judged Trayvon by the color of his skin thinking that since he's
African American he would harm Zimmerman. In todays society African Americans are
probably one of the most criticized race due to whats happened in the past. We are a new and
upcoming generation. We should drop this entire racial stereotype and move on from the past.
Black History month has absolutely changed overtime; the purpose of it is to celebrate
past accomplishments of African Americans leaders. In a newspaper article reported by Clinton
Yates for The Washington Post, Clinton declares that the celebration lost its purpose because
instead of bringing people closer together it separates them even more. Although he doesnt
remain on the topic I agree with him. Even when African Americans get a month to celebrate
their past they are getting discriminated against. The month February is the shortest month out of
all the months. I think its unfair that we are only giving them one month. If we lived in a postracial society we would allow African Americans to celebrate whenever they wanted. No
specific days or months. In the article Clinton Yates suggests, the problem is not with the
month, its with the history. Yates is arguing that the history is the problem because he wants us
to celebrate the month in a more current version. He wants to celebrate what African Americans
are doing now rather than what African Americans did in the past, which is basically renewing
the celebration. Im sure Yates means no disrespect when he is pushing off Frederick Douglass,
Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, etc. What these African Americans did to this country cannot
be match but it can be imitated. In today's society many things are still being done for the first
time. This is what he is talking about; we should be celebrating the current things mixed with
some of the past. We are too caught up on the past and we are forgetting that we are living in a
completely different nation. Granted, without what those African American leaders did in the

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past our community would be far more different to what it is now. Post-racial society would
allow a new way for celebrating African American achievements.
As you can see we have many flaws in our society and we have a lot to learn. Living in a
post-racial society can take years but as a community of different races we shouldnt rush any of
it. Our ethnicity and culture makes us all unique. It makes us different from the person standing
next to us at the bus station, the line at a local McDonalds, and even the public restroom.
Everywhere we go we will see someone from a different race. We should enjoy our diversity as
a community and embrace it or maybe even learn a thing or two from another race. Post-racial
society shouldnt separate our community, but rather bring us closer together because the more
we know about each others race and culture the less we are likely to judge them when we see it
out in public. As time progresses race will eventually not matter due to the fact that our society
will be use to seeing what these different ethnicities do in public. All we can do now is wait and
take it one day at a time. Before we know we will be living in a post-racial society but as of right
now we can only imagine what our nation will be like if it did live in a post-racial society.

Work Cited
1. Easton, Tre. The Myth of a Post-Racial America. huffingtonpost.com October 28, 2014. Huffpost
News. November 2, 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tre-easton/the-myth-of-a-postracial_1_b_5725522.html>

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2.

Yates, Clinton. Whither Black History Month? the Problem Isnt he Month, it's the History (Posted
2013-02-01 16:17:59)." The Washington PostFeb 01 2013. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2014
<http://search.proquest.com/docview/1283336670?accountid=28371>.

3. Arana, Marie. Hes Not Black." The Washington PostNov 30 2008. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2014
<http://search.proquest.com/docview/410267313?accountid=28371>.

4. "We Haven't Overcome Yet; some Conservatives Say the U.S. has Won the Fight Against
Racism. but the Battle Still has Many Fronts." Los Angeles TimesJul 09 2009. ProQuest.
Web. 8 Nov. 2014 <http://search.proquest.com/docview/422275027?accountid=28371>.
5. Jonsson, Patrik. "Trayvon Martin Case: Sparks of Racial Violence Appear." The Christian

Science Monitor: 14. Apr 26 2012. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2014

<http://search.proquest.com/docview/1009763438?accountid=28371>.