ABSTRACT
The Barack Obama era of our history in the United States, ushered in by the hitherto unimaginable election of the fi rst (and two-term!) African American president, contributed to a renewed sociopolitical focus on blackness, group identity, and personal agency. Obama’s election also reinforced for some the idea that we reached a “post-racial” era in American history where problems of inequity can no longer be convincingly linked to race. However, while there has been profound improvement in race relations and material conditions in this country, when comparing the present with not even as far back as fi fty or sixty years ago, glaring race-based disparities in opportunity, treatment, and achievement still persist. The disparities remain alongside outright terrorism and violence against blacks, as was seen in the South Carolina mass shooting and church burnings in the summer of 2015, the white supremacist shooting at a Black Lives Matter gathering in Minnesota that autumn, and the beatings meted out to black protesters by rage-fi lled white attendees of Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump’s political rallies during the tumultuous 2016 election season. These conditions and incidents do not escape the notice of anyone with access to mass media, Internet, and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, which have become formidable platforms to publicize and debate issues of race and racial injustice. With the now ubiquitous cell phone cameras, members of black communities plagued by police abuse record the events, post them online, and provide evidence contradicting offi cial denials and cover-ups to challenge public characterizations of victims as “thugs” deserving of sanction through justifi able force. Increased mainstream attention on cases like these and their widespread discussion from more diverse and democratized perspectives disabuse us of the notion that electing a black president signaled our evolution into a color-blind society.
