Week 9: Kyrene Giezl Gutierrez - A01

Week 9’s readings focused on politics and the emergence of Asian American representation. In Jonathan Y. Okamura’s article, “Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian American and Hawai’i.” Okamura highlights certain topics, such as Obama’s 2008 US presidential election, colour blindness, multiculturalism, neo-conservatism, post-racial, and racism. Okamura (2011) mentions that during Obama’s campaign, he generally avoided the discussion of race and racial issues except when it was necessary. Since Obama was born in Hawai’i, people have claimed him to be “the first Asian American president.” However, Okamura argues that if we were to claim Obama as an honorary Asian American and as a local from Hawai’i, we would be, “reinforcing the ‘model minority’ stereotype of Asian Americans and affirming the widespread view of Hawai’i as a model of multiculturalism (Okamura, 2011). Claiming Obama to be the first Asian American president would reinforce a stereotype that some Asian Americans worked so hard to challenge. The model minority stereotype assumes that the United States is free of racism and discrimination, because if a minority, such as Asian Americans, are able to achieve educational and financial success than other minorities could as well. Yet, we know the United States is not free of racism and discrimination. It may look that way, but racism is so deeply woven into the construction of America that one can’t simply say that the U.S. is no longer racist. Concepts like colour blindness, which can be seen as a resolution to race issues, ignore the racial differences that cause a divide between two races. It’s important to realize that Race Matters. It always has and it always will. To me, America has never entered a post-racial era. Racism has just become more subtle and low key, but it’s still there. During Trump’s campaign, people didn’t just all of a sudden “turn” racist again, they have been racist. They were always racist, but Trump’s platform allowed them to be more expressive and it highlighted that America is not free from racism. If one actually wants to resolve race issues, we must engage in a conversation on race. Yet, some still refuse or find it difficult to do so.

Image: Illustration/Stokely Baksh

Question: Why is it still so difficult to engage in a conversation on race?

Resources:
Jonathan Y. Okamura (2011) Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai‘i, Patterns of Prejudice, 45:1-2, 133-153, DOI: 10.1080/0031322X.2011.563159