Who's Afraid Of Post-Racial Blackness Summary

Toures’ message in, “Who’s Afraid of Post-racial Blackness”, is that there is no defined rulebook of who is and who is not black, and what constitutes as being black. He states “if there are 40 million Black Americans, there are 40 million ways to be black.” He discusses how the “post-black” era is different from that of the past; we are now in an Affirmative Action era. He believes that black people, today, have a different perspective on the world then their previous generations. According to Toure, there are so many different ways to be and act black; there is no agreement on what shall be deemed “black”.
I felt Toure made a lot of excellent points. He discussed the “looking glass image”, which states, ones’ self-image is constructed by how others view said person. This means, that the way one sees them self, is a result of the way others see them. However, Toure does not agree with this, …show more content…
Again, one of the main points of Toures’ discussion is that there are infinite ways to express ones blackness, and it is not up for other black peers (or white peers), to decide this. This reminds me of something discussed the first week of class. The professor asked the students how many of them had ever been accused “of acting to white”, and the majority of students raised their hands. Some believe that being studious, or wearing a suit and tie to a white majority job, makes a person “not black.” Toure provides an opinion that opposes this, and it allows people to see that acting a certain way is not a result of self-hate, or of one hating their own race. Being studious, or educated, or holding a great job, should not define ones race, these qualities absolutely not limited to white people. Rather, these qualities are hidden from offensive and ignorant stereotypes, therefore sometimes seen as white people