Week 9 - Anna Le, sect. 4

In Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: Perspectives from Asian America and Hawaii, Okamura discusses the reasons why Obama is considered an honorary Asian American and how Obama's post-racial candidacy reflects a false narrative, post-racial America, that was pushed by neo-conservatives to keep racial hierarchies and deflect the importance of race and push for the importance of culture/ethnicity. 

In the beginning, I did not understand why it was inherently a bad thing to promote an idea of "color-blindness" and how race should be transcended, and that we should see ourselves as one race, "human beings" rather than as a divided group based on color or class. As I continued on reading, I understand that this idea is rather a utopian fantasy that distracts from the reality that there is still racial disparities and injustices. This idea ignores that systemic racism still exists. 

The article also argues that we should not abolish gender distinctions or class either. I do not understand why we should keep gender distinctions or class. Perhaps this is a reflection of my generation's adherence towards socialist ideas and the view that gender roles are harmful. There is even a growing movement to raise children in a gender-neutral fashion, and many are considering themselves as "queer" or non-binary. To me, it seems that society is becoming more interested in abolishing gender distinctions (and perhaps class too since more young people consider themselves socialists). 

Overall, I still would like to adhere to the idea of transcending race, as I believe that race is a social construction and that distinguishing ourselves by color is a harmful construct to society. Yet such a belief is also harmful as it does not take into account the history of oppression and suffering of other racial groups, and history does not erase itself but only ignored by an ignorant society. Also, I understand that this idea is potentially harmful as it exists to ignore racial injustices that currently exist. Our society and our history have not evolved long enough to transcend race, gender, or class. I believe that we have a long way ahead of us to reach the point of utopia, perhaps it would take centuries of social change and sacrifice to get us there. MLK's movement was able to progress us one step forward, but to reach a utopian idea of transcending race would take many MLK movements and many steps (or historical journies) to get there. 

References: 

• Unity in Diversity and Racial Identification [Digital image]. (2018, August 14). Retrieved from https://bahaiteachings.org/unity-diversity-racial-identification
• 
  Okamura, J. Y. (2011). Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America:
  Perspectives from Asian America and Hawai‘i. Patterns of Prejudice