This neologism has been bandied about like something that gets widely bandied ever since Barack Obama became a serious contender for the U.S. presidency. Since Obama's election victory last Tuesday, the question, "Is America now a post-racial society?" has been tackled on just about every political discussion show I listen to on the radio and watch on TV.
The unanimous answer ha been a resounding "No," and a frequent tidbit offered to support this conclusion is that voters in two states, Nebraska and Colorado, passed referendums making it illegal to use race or other physical characteristics as primary factors when making decisions regarding hiring, school admissions, or the awarding of government benefits.
Jettisoning the prima facie biased policy of affirmative action strikes me as a post-racial move. Judging people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin was Dr. King's vision, right? And even if that is ignored, the fact that words mean stuff has to come into play.
But to hear the commentators tell it, the affirmative action bans are proof that people only care about race.
I do understand that some people voted against affirmative action because they are a little bit to a lot racist. At the same time, though, the result of abandoning affirmative action will exactly achieve the desired outcome of looking past race (and other things) and only rewarding individuals on their positive merits when it comes to hiring or university selection, or current hardships when it comes to doling out benefits.
When I hear the pundits discuss how America is not becoming a post-racial society, I can only conclude what Inigo Montoya did in The Princess Bride:
Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
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