“post-racial”
Last updatedDefinition
A post-racial society is one in which racial prejudice and its related social implications are no longer a factor. It gained more prominence amid the election of the first Black US president, Barack Obama, but critics of the term argue the claim that the United States is now post-racial allows the country to avoid the continued work needed to actually address systemic racism that contributes to wide disparities among racial groups. (In his farewell address Obama himself said that the vision of a post-racial America, “however well-intended, was never realistic.”) The term is often stylized in quotation marks to emphasize its mythic quality.
Including a definition and interrogating the concept, for instance mentioning the continued disparities and structural inequities between white Americans and those of other racial groups, provides essential context.
Additional references
- Episode 6: The Myth of Post-Racial America (Vox Creative)
- The ‘Post-Racial’ Conversation, One Year In (NPR)
- There Is No Post-Racial America (The Atlantic)
- The Concept of Post-Racial: How Its Easy Dismissal Obscures Important Questions (American Academy of Arts and Sciences)
Summary
The term “post-racial” describes a society in which racial prejudice has ended and its related social implications are no longer a factor. Including a definition and interrogating the concept, for instance mentioning the continued disparities and structural inequities between white Americans and those of other racial groups, provides essential context.