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Since the election of President Barack Obama, America has decided it is “post-racial.” Pundits, politicians, cultural critics, educators, and even a growing portion of the American public have claimed that we have moved beyond racial bias, and that race now plays an insignificant role along one’s pathway to success.
However, a snapshot of social trends in the U.S. continue to tell a different story:
- African Americans are less likely to be hired by white, Asian, and Latino managers than by African American managers;
-Lighter-skinned African Americans are more likely to be employed and advance in the workplace than their darker-skinned counterparts;
-African Americans are under-represented among those who achieve high educational attainment, are over-represented in the criminal justice system, and continue to disproportionately suffer from chronic health diseases.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. As I have often said, there is nothing “post-racial” about these trends. Our next phase of development must reflect a commitment to go beyond the social-psychological stereotypes or biases that render African Americans subject to racial discrimination. We need to look at the policies and systems that perpetuate and institutionalize bias against people of color and poor people. We need to elevate the structural racism analysis so that America’s core values of fairness” and “democracy” can be real for all who call the U.S. home.
As we take baby steps toward removing racial barriers to success in this society–and others–we must remain mindful that while it is important to combat individual acts of bias and bigotry (using litigation if necessary), it is also important to build our power by dismantling the structural barriers that prevent the accomplishment of what otherwise might promote fairness and opportunity for all.
Copyright 2010 Monique W. Morris
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