Talking B(l)ack to Post-Racialism:
Why We Must Do It and What Will Happen if We Don't
August 20th , 2009
Weekend Renewing America's Promise, Edgartown, MA
What do the arrest of Skip Gates, the interrogation of Sonia Sotomayor and the death of
Michael Jackson have in common? Each betrays the dangers of the new "post-racialism." African Americans are told work harder and be more responsible. With a Black president in the White House, there are no more excuses. To protest the arrest of a Black man in his own home, or to fight back against racial attacks on a Latina Supreme Court nominee is to risk being sanctioned as a grievance mongerer. These days it’s ok to talk about racial progress, but not about racism—at least not against people of color. It seems the noose of post-racialism is around everybody's neck. Even the President feels it. What can we do to take it off? What will happen to racial justice if we don't?
Professor Paul Butler discussed these issues and more with Devon Carbado (Professor of Law and Vice Dean of Faculty at UCLA School of Law), Kimberle Crenshaw (Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum and Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School), and Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Professor of Women’s
Studies at Spellman College, President of the National Women's Studies Association, and founding director of the Women's Research and Resource Center). The event was sponsored by the African American Policy Forum.
