Shifting Towards a Post-Racial Society in America
John H. McWhorter, a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, makes a compelling argument that America is moving towards a pos-racial society in that the names that society has placed on different ethnic groups are no longer relevant. McWhorter argues that the term “African American” is no longer a sensible term for those who have descended from slaves, given the rise in recent African immigrants who have much closer ties to their African culture. McWhorter instead argues that the term “Black” should be used to describe those whose culture has been impacted by slavery. While McWhorter suggests that racial labels will still be used in American culture, his argument is that race and culture are fluid entities and must be treated as such.
Elizabeth Chang pushes for a wider acceptance of multi-cultural people when it comes to census forms and other official documents that ask questions regarding race. Chang states that the questions regarding race usually require the participant to pick one race, which skews the demographic data of the country and alienates those who identify with two or more races. Chang's argument concludes with a compelling statement that perhaps the question of race is not even important any more, given the sheer number of multi-cultural individuals in the United States. The suggestion of disregarding race is strongly indicative of a shift towards a post-racial society in the United States.
Finally, Brent Staples discusses his experience with genetic testing and finding out that he has significant Asian lineage, in addition to being Black and Caucasian. Staples argues that advances in genetic testing have shown that many Caucasians have found African DNA in their families and vice-versa. These genetic surprises show how very few people have the genetic code for just one race, which ties back to Chang's argument that race has become even more of a socially constructed idea as opposed to a meaningful designation rooted in science. Although the arguments made in these three articles are unlikely to change anything overnight, they do show a shift in attitudes towards race and society.
Works Cited
McWhorter, John. “Why I'm Black, Not African American.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles, CA.] 8 Sept. 2004.
Staples, Brent. “Why Race Isn't as 'Black' and 'White' as we Think.” The New York Times [New York, New York] 31, Oct. 2005.
Chang, Elizabeth. “Why Obama Should Not Have Checked 'Black' on his Census Form.” The Washington Post [Washington, D.C.] 29 April 2010.
