Is America a "Post Racial Society"

When someone poses the question; "Is America a post racial society?” The first thought that crosses my mind is what is a post racial society? What does it consist of? When the phrase is dissected my interpretation is a society that no longer focuses on race and people embracing one another no matter what race, religion or creed they are. Has America really become a post racial society? Many people say now that we have a black president it is, but I question that statement, just because we have a black president doesn’t mean that Americans are not prejudice or racist. People think just because Barack Obama is president that all is well, when in l reality People have realized in order for this country to be successful they needed to make a better choice in choosing a president. Barack was raised by parents of the Majority race, he is black, but he is black as much as he is white. He drawls a line of equivalence that makes him a suitable candidate because it gave the majority group some assurance/validation. Meaning instead of it actually being post racial society people demanded change and where willing to put race on the shelf for the moment because they knew that bush administration was not focused on the problems of the people. The idea of race doesn’t just need to be a second focal point; it needs to be completely demolished. America needs to focus on real issues, like health, poverty, justice etc. Ironic thing is that these things affect minorities more so then majority, the fact that I call a race a minority and majority just shows that this society will never be post racial. Because we divide people into different groups as if they are not the same, as if they are not human beings. J. Dalaker, and Proctor, B. D gave statistics on healthline.com stating that Minority racial and ethnic groups are much more likely to live in poverty—23.6 percent of blacks and 22.8 percent of Hispanics lived below the poverty level, versus 7.7 percent of whites. Female-headed households (with no husband present) are much more likely than married couple families to live in poverty (27.8% versus 4.8%); with black and Hispanic female-headed households having the highest poverty rates (39.3% and 38.8%, respectively). Those with lower income have health issues, because of lack of access to healthcare. America has made it seem as if it’s an issue of social status and income, but people are fighting to get better jobs and seek opportunities that some races have automatic access to. This is another way I believe that certain races are excluded. The journal of blacks in education 2006 stated that not only are African-American scores on the SAT far below the scores of whites and Asian Americans, but they also trail the scores of every other major ethnic group in the United States including students of Puerto Rican and Mexican backgrounds. Studies show that the gap between black and whites sat scoring also is due to the income of the house hold. I believe that people with more money are able to send their kids to private schools that offer and have better teachers and programs to offer then public schools. These children have the opportunities to go to Ivy League schools and get good paying jobs while children less fortunate are unable to for whatever reason. I feel that this is a tactic that people use to keep others out. One of my fellow classmates made a great point on saying Racism was taught to him as Powerful people with Prejudices. Those who can actually do something to oppress the people they hate. But being prejudice is excluding a group or not favoring a group for the same reason, just because you don’t have power doesn’t mean your actions don’t have much as an affect or affliction on someone And isn’t that how it starts, you discourage a group for whatever reason excluding them in things that involve you and your race that could possibly be uplifting or beneficial to any group. It’s impossible to say that America is post racial, this country was built on 400 years of hatred between races, Is it possible that this new generation could get rid of customs past down in families for years? I think not. It’s going to take a little more than a black president and a second shelving of race for America to be post racial society. People need to look at each other as humans, respecting and wanting better for them. In order to be unified everyone must look past differences and see what issues they are faced with and work together to fix them.