Post racial society?

For much of the current generation, racism is viewed as a non-issue — an outdated concept that one reads about in middle school history textbooks and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

Slavery and segregation are studied and scrutinized but typically not within earshot or directly in our line of vision in this modern and seemingly “equalized” world. Individuals of every hue, color and nationality share bathrooms, drinking fountains and public schools in the United States. Diversity is often visible in the workplace and in our government, and it is embraced by much of our mainstream media.

Indeed, with the election of our nation’s first black president, it has become clear that our country has made great strides in eliminating racism and narrowing the achievement gap.

Of his multicultural heritage, President Obama said, “(My parents) would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.”

However, evidence states that this may not be the case.
In that same year, the University of Chicago conducted a sociological study titled “Are Emily and Brendan More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” The results of this study are startling for those of us that would prefer to believe we’re living in a post-racial society.

Scholars found that people with typical Caucasian names like Pam or Amber received 50 percent more callbacks than applicants with more “ethnic-sounding” names like Lakisha or Shaniqua. In a similar experiment carried out by 20/20, the resumes of individuals with “white-sounding” names were downloaded 17 percent more often by job recruiters on popular job-search sites.

Glaring examples of racial discrimination exist far beyond the job market, and they go far beyond the black-white controversies that so often come to mind when we hear the word “racism.” According to the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign, only 15 percent of white students are enrolled in “poorly resourced, low-performing schools.”
This is in contrast to the 42 percent of black and other racial minorities who are enrolled in these types of schools.

Just last year in the diverse south side of Fort Wayne, a laundromat manager reportedly hung a sign reading “NO BURMESE ALLOWED.” In Bloomington, the IU community was shocked by a string of hateful incidents targeting the campus’ Jewish population last December.

And just the other day on Facebook, a virtual microcosm in which most of us choose to live for at least an hour or two each day, I was appalled to read a spiteful and belligerent photo comment referring to an Arab-American girl as a “towelhead.”
But despite the overwhelming evidence that racism does indeed persist in our modern society, we can’t ignore or undervalue the progress toward a more equal and perfect union that has taken place in the past several years.

Biracial marriages and multicultural families are becoming commonplace. Despite the recent spotlight on controversial law enforcement policies in Arizona, racial profiling remains illegal and frowned upon throughout the majority of the United States. Candidates of ethnic minorities are able to run their campaigns with a markedly increased viability.

In addition to these signs of hope, genetic evidence has proven that there is absolutely no variation in the genetic codes of individuals of different races and that the mere concept of race is simply the result societal reactions to the triviality of differing skin pigmentations. Now that science has proven that we as humans really are all the same, naysayers and bigots can only preach their falsehoods for so long before their words fall on deaf ears.

When it comes down to it, our ability to continue the progression toward a post-racial society depends on our willingness to identify and attack the biases that may be hiding within us.

The words of our president reflect the common sense that we’ve known all along: “If each of us take it upon ourselves to treat people with fairness and be able to stand in somebody else’s shoes and see through their eyes and relate to where they’re coming from, that we can make more progress ... we have healthier attitudes than previous generations do. That’s the progress we want to keep making.”

E-mail: kabeasle@indiana.edu