Is My Generation Post Racial?

Andrew Palmer
November 30, 2015
Eng 101-012
For years I have been hearing the term Post-Racial used to describe my new, young
millennial generation. And I (like many other of people of my generation) believed that it was
true; that we had moved on to a new America, where your race did not determine your class in
society. Then the race riots in Ferguson happen, Eric Garners death, the race riots in Baltimore,
and recently the protests at the University at Missouri. All these events made me think that my
generation wasnt Post-Racial and still had a long way to go. But I wonder if the recent event
affects other people of my generation? Did they still think that Millennials are Post-Racial?
With that question in mind I set with surveys in hand and asked the students of UCC: Is are
Generation Post-Racial?
After President Obama was elected into office in 2008, there was an expectation that the
millennial generation would be the first generation that color of your skin would not matter
anymore "Post Racial America in the Age of Obama." And the idea that millennials are color
blind is also not true ("ARC Study: Don't Call Millennials Post-Racial.".) according to the ARC
study Millennials do believe that race still matters. The majority of people in our focus groups
continue to see racism at work in multiple areas of American life, particularly in criminal justice
and employment. Which with my own research pans out for when I asked with my survey Do
you think America has discrimination? 100% said yes (Is Your Generation Post-Racial.)

Millennials are also going to be one of the first generations where the majority of the
population is going to non-white (("ARC Study: Don't Call Millennials Post-Racial.".) Which is
true according to the book The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming
Generational Showdown They are also the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in

American history, a profile that should serve them (and the rest of the US) well in a multicolored
world engulfed by cultural, ethnic, and religious divisions. Interestingly enough though, When I
asking for my survey, the first question I asked was When you meet a person for the first time,
do you make any judgements on them based on their race? and 88% said no (Is Your
Generation Post-Racial.) This first question proves very interesting anecdotal point, and that is
that millennials dont want to think that race and ethnicity plays a factor in where you will go in
society, but yet at the same time acknowledge they acknowledge there is discrimination
(remember 100% of the respondents for my survey said there is discrimination in America.)
Before I go on a quick synopsis of how I went about conducting my survey. First I
drafted ten questions which are as follows: When you meet a person for the first time, do you
make any judgements on them based on their race? (The result 88% said No), Do think that
America has discrimination? (The result: and resounding response of 100%), Please select the
ethnicity of origin (or Race) and Gender that you belong to on the options listed. (For which I
then listed options common on survey questions the breakdown is as follows: 25% white male,
18.75% Hispanic or Latino male, 12.5% African American or Black male, 6.35% Asian or
Pacific Islander male, 12.5 white female, 18.75% Hispanic or Latino female, and finally 6.25%
African American or Black female), Do you think there is an ethnicity that is persecuted more
than others? (Then I asked them to explain their answer) (The result was most black males and
Islamic/ Arabic people. Which is not surprise considering the recent events in Paris and

Ferguson, Of a breakdown of close friends, are there any that are different race than you? If so,
how many different races? (The result was mostly yes with the most having at least two friends
of a different ethnicity), Do you see yourself on the list (as seen in question 3) of traditional
survey races? (Example: Non-White Hispanic) (The result which surprises me was that people
thought for the most Yes. With 88% saying yes), (And if they said no to the question before I
asked: What would you like to write in/ circle instead? But again most said yes so this question
was not answer frequently), (then I asked a current events question) After several racial
incidents that rocked the University Of Missouri, several students lead protests to demand an
increase presence of black faculty members on campus. Currently Missouri is around the
national average at 3.2 percent. The national average is 5.2 percent. (Numbers from
Fivethirtyeight.com/ US Census Bureau) Do these students have a point? (the result was
obvious with most saying yes at 82%), the next question I asked was to explain their answer for
the question before (the result was that people thought that if Missouri was under national
average then they should improve, since students want a reflection of themselves in the people
who are teaching them), and finally the last question I asked was After Obama was elected into
office in 2008. Pundits started calling Millennials the "Post-Racial" Generation. Do believe that
as true? Why or why not, explain: (the result was that people said false, but that we a inching
closer to a Post-Racial society and that Obama election was just a stepping stone.) (Is Your
Generation Post-Racial)
To say that last paragraph is a mouthful is to say the Great lakes are big. Now you
probably just skimmed that last paragraph and who can blame you but, here is the point. I found
out that for the most part people do acknowledge racism, but they do think things are getting
better. What we need to do is acknowledge that we are a long way off and need to keep

progressing toward. When people like Donald Trump are allowed and prompted to a national
stage it just shows of far we have to go. Millennials are not post-racial but that alright, if we
acknowledge the problem we can begin to fix it.

Citation Page
Appollen, Dom. "ARC Study: Don't Call Millennials Post-Racial." Race Forward. Race
Foward, 12 May 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2015
Bouie, Jamelle. "Why Do Millennials Not Understand Racism?" Slate.com. N.p., MayJune 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Balkaran, Stephen. "Post Racial America in the Age of Obama." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, Apr.-May 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Taylor, Paul. The Next America : Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational
Showdown. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Ebscohost. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
Palmer, Andrew M.E. Is Your Generation Post-Racial. 7 Dec. 2015. Raw data. Union
County, Cranford.