September 15, 2016

Barack Obama and the “Post-Racial” Myth

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Meghan Daum today:

It sounds laughable now, but remember back when we thought a black president portended a “post-racial society”?

Daum goes on to make a point about a post-sexist society, which I think we all agree isn’t going to happen anytime soon. “Is there a woman on Earth who could check enough boxes to make people think, even for a fleeting and foolhardy second, that a post-sexist society was possible?” Daum asks. Indeed not. But what I’m curious about is her contention about Obama. Back in 2008, did anyone really think that an Obama presidency meant that a post-racial society was just around the corner?

This is a serious question. I have a bad memory for this kind of thing, and that’s on top of the fact that I tend to filter out obvious political hyperbole. Presidential candidates are always blabbing on about how great America will be if they’re elected, but I never take this kind of rhetoric seriously.

So then: were there really lots of people who thought Obama was a harbinger of a post-racial society? Not just “it’s a turning point in American politics,” or “we should be proud,” or any of that. I’m talking about people claiming that his election genuinely represented America coming to terms with its racist past and becoming truly colorblind in the future. Who were these people? And what do they have to say for themselves today?

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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