Week 9_Annie Tang A01

Annie Tang

Week 9

A01

I was not a fan of politics until I read the paper by Jonathan Y. Okamura, “Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian American and Hawai’i”. It sharply pointed out that the success of Obama’s presidential election did not equate to the end of racial issue in the United States. While I naively believed America could finally overcome the prejudice and view all races as equal by selecting president Obama, the black candidate, the reading brought me back to the reality with logical and persuasive analysis. Obama’s success came from his tactful appeal to different groups of people. A black in appearance with an emphasis on Asian American upbringing, he won votes from the groups of black and Asians easily. As people of minority, no one could refuse to have a president who represented exactly themselves from the power at the top. The dominant group in America, the conservative whites also voted for Obama because they wanted his success to indicate the “truth” that the US was over with racial prejudice, which was only a representation. Hence, the public could not blame the whites for racial discrimination when the it actually happened. The reason left to explain the discrimination would all be the fault of minorities and their culture discrepancy, favoring the whites. Furthermore, if we take a look at Obama’s policies, we would find out they were not promoting racial equality but maintaining the privileges of whites. Therefore, Obama’s presidency did not mark the end of racial prejudice in America. His exceptional success was contributed by the way he “fool around” with different groups. Meanwhile, these different groups were also taking advantage of him in other ways, but never the existed problem of race. We should see beyond his black skin and be aware of what he really did for America.

Question: How can ambitious people make a real change in politics?

Reference

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, 45(1-2), 133-

153. doi:10.1080/0031322x.2011.563159

Picture retrieved from http://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-fragility-of-post-racial-ideology-in-

american-visual-culture/from-post-racialism-during-the-obama-era-to-racism-and-

white-supremacy-during-the-trump-era-1