For my post I read an article in The New York Times called “Talk About Race? Relax, It’s O.K.” This article was about how the election of Barak Obama has made it easier for people to bring up in conversation the idea of race. Also the article questioned whether it was naïve to think that “we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy.” Mr. Rice, the executive director of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, didn’t believe we could and that race is something in American history and life “that we’ve never really worked through.”
Barak Obama alone probably will not drastically change the perception and commonality of race; however, I do believe that what America does need to be exposed to more counter-stereotypical African Americans. I am so sick of turning on the television and seeing all these cartoons and reality shows exploiting racial stereotypes for human… and the saddest part is that people laugh at it. What makes Obama an extra-special counter-stereotypical African American is that he is President of the United States and perceived as a celebrity and star within the media. Can sheer the star-power of Obama do anything to improve race relations or even transcend race?
If anything Obama has given America an outlet to start to feel comfortable starting a dialogue revolving around race. Because of Obama’s perception as a star and how he is portrayed in the media, his role in American culture has already accomplished one great thing: Before Obama there was always this thing—“he’s a black president,” but now there is also, “he’s a president who happens to be black.”
The role of media and pop culture in America has the power to choose how to portray different people and situations. Television can manipulate the way Americans view things. The power of perception can be a powerful tool, and in the case of Barak Obama and starting conversation about race, the media has played a positive role. Getting beyond racial differences may not be possible through the single candidate alone, but with media and pop culture behind him, it just may be possible…
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I think I read this article and agree that Obama marks a signifying point in American culture where we start to discuss race more openly (maybe). Yet in instances like this some conversations show just how far we still have to go as a society and as individuals. It may have been in this article, but I remember some example of a white woman talking to a black woman on a bus and having a meaningful discussion about race. That's all well and good, yet the conversation ends with the white woman apologizing for slavery and feeling relief that she could get that off her chest.
ReplyDeleteThis is problematic as the white woman fails to recognize the racial state in which we still live and imagine how much courage it will take her to confront that if it took her that much strength to apologize for the complete subjugation and dehumanization of an entire race of people. This shows while Obama's election is a joyous occasion, white America has some catching up to do still.
The election of Barack Obama does make it easier to talk about race. However, the amazing thing is that Obama is seen as an outlier. Taylor you say that Obama gives American a venue to have a conversation. Is that really what it is? or is it what Nick says an apology session? Obama, in my opinion, is white America's reparations for slavery, the jim crow south, and the racial state. And even though this could be an apology it is more or less empty because we all still live in a very racial state.
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