ABSTRACT
This 2011 essay by Zeus Leonardo explores the myriad meanings of race and ambivalence surrounding race in what has been called the ‘post-race’ era. As Leonardo notes, after the United States presidential election of Barack Obama in 2008, many questioned the concept of race and the continued value of race-based discourse. Those on the right criticized the usefulness of race as a social category in relation to the possible merits of color-blind, non-racialized discourse. Those on the left also conceded the limitations and incoherence of race as a concept, but continued to witness and emphasize the pernicious impact of racialization on racialized people’s lives. One key issue here, Leonardo observes, is that racism has never been only about skin color, and it has not been conceptualized in a universal way across countries or over time. Furthermore, race as an essentialist notion is different from, and less useful than, other key social categories like culture and ethnicity, which (also) continue to have significance in education and social life. Thus, ambivalence about race marks the ‘post-race’ era, where race cannot be ignored, but any account of it must confront its inadequacy. What racism means to diverse racialized groups and white groups is also discussed in this essay, which concludes that racialized groups must remain hopeful about the possibility of a post-racial time, while white people seem ‘optimistic’ but less ‘hopeful’, regarding the history and ongoing saliency of race. This is a powerful essay that engages various debates about what race and racism have been, are, and may look like in the future.
