Next week will mark the first anniversary of Barack Obama’s historic election as the first African American President of the United States.
It seems like yesterday I was standing in front of the White House with thousands of young people screaming for President Bush to get out of Obama’s house.
I LOL that the outdoor lights had been turned off so that photographers and videographers wouldn’t be able to get clear images of Americans offering to pack up Bush’s sh stuff and send him back to Texas.
The euphoria of Election Night 2008 has given way to reality. A year ago, the black unemployment rate was 11.3 percent. Today, it’s 15.4 percent.
And even with President Obama’s commitment to increasing opportunities for minority business enterprises, African American-owned businesses are still fighting for access to procurement opportunities on stimulus-funded projects.
So life and race matters go on.
The question of whether America is “really post-racial” is the topic of a town hall meeting tomorrow at one of my favorite places, the Museum of the City of New York. A diverse panel of scholars, artists and activists will kick around race, post-race and whatever:
During the 2008 presidential primary, the word "post-racial" emerged as a watch word to describe one of the leading candidates and by extension an entire generation of young people. But what does it mean to be post-racial in the hip-hop generation? Hip-hop, the youth culture of our time, has become synonymous with race even as it appeals to global cultures. Likewise, have we truly arrived at a post-racial era when the n-word is daily prevalent in hip-hop lyrics and culture?
The post civil rights generation is American's most global and heterogeneous ever. At the same time, as the historically weighted n-word suggests, we still struggle with our country's unreconciled racial history. “Is America Really Post-Racial?” is a town hall meeting that attempts to answer the important question, “how has the election of Barack Obama and the increased participation of young people in electoral politics changed the racial climate in the U.S.?”
The interactive town hall is free but reservations are required. To RSVP, call (917) 492-3395.
