Race still matters

How many times have you heard a white person say that he or she thinks of Obama not as a black man but as a man, or of Oprah not as a black woman but as just, well, Oprah? I have lost count. This well-meaning, praise-expectant affirmation of colorblindness may seem like progress, but it's really indicative of having avoided the central issue: Someone who looks different (read black) could be just as qualified, just as deserving as a "normal" person (read white).

The in-your-face, un-stereotypical blackness of Obama therefore forces all of us to question our ideas of race and racial progress in a way that makes us work. This type of work is difficult and scary, and it's understandable why some would rather delay the discussion or label it unnecessary and unproductive. But having this discussion will allow us to grow stronger as a country.

Obama's presence forces us to ask whether it is reasonable to call a biracial man black; whether definitions of race designed to benefit slave-owners are still necessary and valid in 2008. His openness about past drug use could put front and center the debate about the patently racist sentencing guidelines our "post-racial" society employs to punish narcotics-related offenses.

In general, Barack Hussein Obama brings us face to face with the discomfort our society feels with this idea of difference. Indeed, fascination with Obama's name recalls studies that show how hard it is for those with unique African American names to find employment. And it is interesting that no one has mentioned an obvious reason for the Obama campaign's initial reluctance to attack Hillary Rodham Clinton -- that it might conjure up the age-old assumption that aggressive young black men are a menace to older white women. (If that statement offends you, I'm sure plenty of young black men like myself can tell you about older white women crossing the street to avoid us in our "post-racial" society.)

Even if we were to confront head-on these and other questions surrounding race, we are unlikely to grow into the "post-racial" modifier some of us so crave. That's because the idea of "post-raciality" is a total fallacy. Should Obama become president, he will not suddenly cease to be black, nor will white Americans be any less white. However, Obama's continual presence in our newspapers, on television and in our national consciousness would force us to reconsider just what these colors mean. A President Obama (or any other black president) would bring us face to face with the threatening idea that colorblindness and equality are not the same, and that real progress on racial issues means respect for, and not avoidance of, difference.

Our racial past and future is something that we Americans must address. Thanks to Obama, there is no better time than now.