Has America Stepped into a Post-Racial Society?

YES! I was sitting at work today listening to CNN on Sirius XM and one of the commentators made the suggestion that while race was a factor in the Presidential election, it was not a limiting factor. In other words, while the old time news media and the old time race-baiters tried to use race in a fear-mongering context, there were citizens who voted for Senator Barack Obama simply because he is a black man! In a country where a few decades ago black children were sent to separate schools from white children and in a country where certain “civil rights leaders” are constantly trying to divide and conquer, this is a remarkable tribute to the nobility of today’s electorate!

Let me rephrase that last comment. America’s citizens have, by-and-large, moved BEYOND living in a society where the color of one’s skin decides whether or not they can advance in society. Finally – FINALLY – we might be in a post-racial society where a man or woman is judged by the content of their character and not their race. For my liberal-minded friends out there – this is what Martin Luther King, Jr’s dream was all about! And for my conservative-minded friends out there – imagine a world where affirmative action is taken off of the bargaining table due to its inherent racism and anti-lower-to-middle-class white leanings.

I distinctly remember bringing this issue up about 4 years ago in Graduate School and using Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as my examples. Here are guys who made their entire careers off of the black vs. white conflict – real (Abner Louima) or imagined (the Duke case). Let’s hope to God that these two men are put out of business because America is now in a post-racial society.

With Republicans voting for Obama, whites voting for Obama, a woman earning 47% of the national vote for Vice-President, a black man winning the Presidency…it appears that it is finally time for us to move away from the race and gender-based issues of the 1900’s and get involved in some of the major issues of OUR time. The environment, sustainable living, quality education, American-style capitalism in a global market, advancing math and science in America, etc, etc. These are the types of changes that America has wanted not just for 8 years, but for decades.

We don’t want to rehash the same, tired arguments about the color of our skin any more. Enough is enough. In fact, a large number of the 2008 electorate (myself included) have existed on this planet for almost three decades while not ever caring about the race of our friends and colleagues. It’s nice to see that America has finally caught up!

Now how long until the old-fashioned news media concocts some story about how America is as racist as ever?!?