The fantasy of a 'post-racial' election

by: Pam Spaulding

Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 11:00:00 AM EST

The short version: "post-racial" means 1) the rejection/diminution of traditional civil rights leadership; 2) the younger generation drawn to Obama is if not color-blind, color-blurred; 3) this election cycle will see less of a focus on race.

Dream on. After all, who doesn't want to believe it's possible? It would negate to have any in-depth conversation about race. In any case, I can hang with #1; after all, too many of those the mainline civil rights leadership is tired, ineffective, and so tied into the political establishment for their own sake that they have little connection to today's minority youth. It's refreshing, from that perspective, that Barack Obama is not of that generation.

However, if Schorr thinks overt race-baiting, as well as simple race-based ignorance won't rear its ugly head over and over in this cycle, he has his head in the sand.

For instance, Alec Baldwin shared this bit of business being published in his local (East Hampton, NY) right-leaning paper, The Independent.

On the heels of Barack Obama being endorsed for the presidency by the normally close-to-the-vest Caroline Kennedy, whose invocation of her father's enduring legacy carries, in some people's hearts and minds, more weight than any ten such endorsements by others, please read what the local Republicans in my home town are thinking, and publishing, about Senator Obama. This is, quite clearly, not to be believed.

Read what he wrote after the jump.  

"The truth is, I don't know many black people, but my advisers have drafted a strategy to reel in the black vote:
1) Call everyone 'Brother.' Blacks, I am told, do this even if most of their real brothers are in jail.
2) Talk Jive. Brothers want to hear jive. During my speech I told the crowd, 'We be, you know, sick of whitey supressin' and congestin' so, you know, we won't denigrate or sophisticate but emulate and populate, you know, the system is, like, broken, y'all!'"

And, in reference to Hillary Clinton:
"Ultimately, if she gets too close, one of my New york advisors has advised me to 'Bitch slap that ho.' White women, I am told, like that."

***

When I posted this over at Pandagon, I answered this comment (in ital):

Framing Obama's candidacy as "post-racial," on the other hand, creates a context where, when his opponents talk about Obama's racial identity, their own racism will be more obvious to those voters who aren't already invested in combatting racism. Obama's critics will be the ones "injecting" race into the campaign, and preventing the public from "getting over it."

Of course that definition makes the case for that view, however, for many out there, to make a "post-racial" declaration is a means to say "look, there isn't a problem here" and thus if it is raised at all, it's not in the context about society's larger problems with race generally.

The subject is too deeply embedded in the American psyche to will it away - remember, Obama doesn't have to "make a big deal of his blackness." He's black, but he's not carrying the perceived "chip on his shoulder" that Jackson or Sharpton have by default. That's what scares white folks, because J&S have traded on race merchantry in the past - where all forms of racism - benign, ignorant, overt and violent, are seemingly the same. This only drives further discussion into the closet.

What I am saying is that the underlying reason for promoting "post-racial" (note you don't see many blacks tossing that around) is more about wanting it to be true so badly so that race doesn't have to be dealt with. It cuts both ways.

Note you will see folks on the right (and the Clinton camp) complaining that they "cannot talk about race" in regards to Obama. No, they feel they cannot successfully use the familiar political dog-whistles that evoke fear without getting called on it.

It all goes back to the fear of being labeled "racist." It's almost as if we need to come up with another term that doesn't conjure up visions of Klan Night Riders, lest whites recoil at the mere thought that they can hold ingrained biases through no fault of their own by growing up in this culture.

I'm pretty sure implicit bias is what drives much of The Bradley Effect, because many who change their minds and vote for the non-minority candidate don't see themselves as racist; they can rationalize their decisions in ways that avoid ownership of that factor.