A postracial world? We're not quite there yet

[flashl]

By STARITA SMITH

Hold on. We're not yet in a postracial society, no matter what some commentators may be saying about the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.

Unable to account for the startling success of this black candidate, some pundits are trying to find ways to explain how Obama isn't really black. They say his appeal is postracial, while at the same time they continually compare him only to previous Democratic black presidential candidates and activists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
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Obama is not Sharpton or Jackson, but that doesn't make him nonblack. There are many other powerful blacks he doesn't resemble, either. Commentators do not compare Obama to nationally prominent black Republicans such as Colin Powell, or presidential candidate Alan Keyes, or even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has become the Republicans' main symbol of our "postracial society."

To these commentators, blackness seems to be a matter for discussion or analysis only when the candidate is not a conservative. They consider a public figure to be black to the extent that he or she constantly reminds everyone of the injustices of discrimination still faced by black people.
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Discrimination is an offense most quickly recognized by the people who are its target. And almost every black person you meet can give you a vivid account that demonstrates the persistence of racism.

Simply saying, "I am not a racist" appears to be enough for some to claim exemption from responsibility for doing and saying the most patently racist things.

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Claiming we live in a postracial society doesn't make it so.

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The fact that we have to spend a lot of time talking about race in conjunction with Obama should demonstrate that we do not yet live in a postracial society.

Star Telegram