post race post race thoughts

(Originally written Nov. 6th)

Ok, newsflash: Obama is half black. We all knew this right? I mean... its kind of obvious (unless you got convinced he was muslim) and there was a lot of discussion pre-election about the Bradley effect (where white people SAID they would vote for a black guy to look good, but then didn't actually do it) but nobody, especially Obama himself, really harped on the fact that "hey look, this black dude is doing really well". People said "Barack Obama is doing really well".

What I mean to say is just what the massive crowd of my fellow South Carolinians at the victory speech of the democratic primary said: "Race doesn't matter". I was moved to tears by that speech, not because of the speech itself so much, but the reaction of the crowd. Didn't we JUST take down our confederate flag in 2000? I hate to play off of a negative stereotype of my state but honestly, when South Carolina says that race doesn't matter, start listening.

And so, after winning South Carolina, and the nomination, and the presidency, everyone has started talking about race again! The news anchors were saying "how great this is for an african-american." What about "how great for a democrat?", "how great for an underdog?", "how great for an idealist?", "How great for a man who has worked his way up from the bottom?", "how great for any American to win an election by such a historically HUGE margin?". I understand it is a great achievement for African-Americans and I do not mean to state by any insinuation that that's not true. I just think that this is more of an indication of the transition from race being an issue to a non-issue than an indication that this one man has overcome that issue all on his own.

I had come to appreciate the fact that Obama is essentially post-race. This in itself is a milestone, more of a milestone in fact than if race had really been acknowledged. The fact that nobody really thought it was a big deal says SO MUCH MORE about the state of American society than if people thought it was a problem, and overcame their bigotry to vote for Obama. Bigotry didn't even come into play (ok I know there are assholes out there still playing that card, I'm talking about the vast majority of Americans who apparently know its crap). I mean... you can't get more equality than not even needing to acknowledge race. I think it is pretty wonderful that an individual's race has little to no impact on what the American people think of them.


Sooo... does race matter? Do I not understand this because I'm not a minority? Is the media suddenly harping on it just because it is history or because it suddenly matters? Is Obama really "post race" the way I think he is?