Week 9 - Arwin Mauricio - A03

The theme of Week 9 is “Politics: Emergence of Asian American Representation.” The reading by Okamura discusses post-racialism with respect to President and then candidate Barrack Obama. This relates to the theme because the article describes how Obama was characterized as an “honorary Asian American” which falsely asserts the notion that race is declining in significance in America. The second reading by Omatsu gives decade by decade overview of Asian American political involvement which range from the civil rights era to the emergence of Asian American neo-conservatives.

Okamura’s article was really interesting to read especially at this moment in time. Okamura discusses how “post-racialists can now use Obama’s election as further proof of their longstanding claim that race no longer serves as a structural barrier.” However, now that America is living in the Trump presidency, can Trump’s election serve as proof of contradiction to the idea of post-racialism. I recall watching and reading opinions about how Trump’s election was a reaction to Obama’s presidency and the emerging majority minority population. I remember one commentator describing the election as a “whitelash” against a changing America. 

Another quote that interested me is the “substitution of race with seemingly nonracial categories of culture and nation.” This reminds me of the contemporary arguments made by conservatives. For example, those who support preserving Confederate monuments argue that they want to preserve the Southern culture. However, the Confederacy is inherently tied with racial injustice towards African Americans. Also, Trump argues that he wants to put “America First” and campaigned to “Make America Great Again.” But there are some people who argue that those phrases are code directed to attract disaffected white Americans.

Question: Will political tensions in America continue to increase as the overall share of the minority population continues to grow towards the majority?

References:                                                                       

Emmert, D. (2016) [Image] Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/why-dont-asians-count/498893/.

Okamura, J (2011). Barrack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawaii.