Repositioning Race: Prophetic Research in a Postracial Obama Age

Part II: Daily Experiences and Implications of the Postracial Obama Age

Part II • Daily Experiences and Implications of the Postracial Obama Age The election and reelection of Barack Obama as president of the United States in 2008 and 2012 did not dramatically alter the daily lives of Blacks who are experiencing poverty, racism, or both. The historic election and reelection events were inspirational, and their emotional and psychological significance are inestimable. In addition to evidencing that the United States has become more racially tolerant, several changes, including health-care reform; passage of the Civil Marriage Protection Act in Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington; and the capture of Osama Bin Laden ensure that Barack Obama’s presidency will hold an indelible place in U.S. history. Yet, by and large, most people who were poor, experienced racial discrimination, or both before Obama’s election continued to be poor, discriminated against, or both following each election. Importantly, African Americans who recognize the importance of the recent presidential elections dismiss notions of racial betrayal and become comfortable honestly assessing social problems that continue to plague the Black community despite and because of the historic Obama elections. The two chapters in this section enable readers to assess some of the real-world local, regional, and national implications of race and race matters that are theoretically illumined in part I of this volume and prepare them for further research on such subjects from an international 91 92 • Part II frame of reference in part III. Moreover, they reflect prophetic work in their ability to empirically and directly consider some of the implications of the paradigms detailed in the initial section of this volume. Thus the two chapters illustrate the importance of providing empirical results to augment theoretical work and anecdotes (Bonilla-Silva 2001, 2010; Feagin 2006, 2010; Gallagher 2003). Furthermore, they show how contemporary forms of racism still undermine the quality of life and lived experiences of segments of the Black community during a historical moment in which whether and how race matters are up for debate. In Chapter 4, “Race, the Great Recession, and the Foreclosure Crisis: From American Dream to Nightmare,” Cedric Herring, Loren Henderson, and Hayward Derrick Horton rely on quantitative findings to suggest that the recent Great Recession disproportionately affected people of color. They contend that this approximately four-year nationwide economic downturn was more reminiscent of a depression for many Blacks and Latinos. The authors reference various secondary data sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics , to evidence how segments of these two racial and ethnic groups were more apt to experience home foreclosures, unemployment, poverty, and health-care inequities. Their findings illustrate how historic economic and racial oppression can render groups that have made notable advancements (for example, Blacks who now have a representative who is the U.S. president) more relatively vulnerable to socioeconomic travail than other groups. Moreover , they contend that the “American Nightmare” that many Blacks and Latinos are experiencing indirectly suggests some of the contemporary , unfavorable implications of race matters that may be more difficult to identify and acknowledge—particularly for persons who espouse a colorblind racial posture—continue to exist. Because race tends to be negatively associated with class, particularly for persons of color in the United States, blaming social problems such as poverty and unemployment on class considerations rather than racial dynamics may be more palatable for some people. In addition to their empirical analysis, the authors provide strategies and policy suggestions to combat some of the economic challenges Latinos and Blacks are experiencing to ultimately combat ethnic and racial disparities associated with the Great Recession. Some of the contemporary economic implications of historic racial inequities are documented in chapter 4. Chapter 5, “Black Experiences , White Experiences: Why We Need a Theory of Systemic Racism,” examines present-day manifestations and implications of historic racial inequality as well as the importance of establishing concepts and per- Part II • 93 spectives that accurately convey the severity and pervasiveness of racial divisiveness and racism in our society. Louwanda Evans and Joe Feagin introduce the concepts “White racial frame” and “systemic racism” to describe and understand why they contend that many White Americans understand Blacks and historically Black colleges and universities. Both phrases convey the entrenched nature of contemporary manifestations of racial discrimination and how it shapes White identity as well as White-Black encounters where negative comments and behavior by members of the former group toward members of the...