Newswise — The death of Trayvon Martin continues to generate national outrage, but it also has precipitated a new approach to racial discourse by the nation’s first black president, says Stephanie Li, assistant professor of English at the University of Rochester and author of Signifying Without Specifying: Racial Discourse in the Age of Obama (2012 Rutgers Press).
“The president’s deeply felt comments about Martin’s death represent a new direction for his often strained approach to racial matters,” says Li.
“President Obama rarely speaks about race and when he does so, it is usually at the prompting of others. The racial politics (in this matter) are unavoidable and while Obama has entirely ignored the recent racial baiting of his Republican presidential rivals, in his response last Friday, he could not avoid mentioning racial profiling, the very issue that caused such a media firestorm following the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.”
“By referring to his daughters and to the son he never had, Obama makes the death of Trayvon Martin a personal tragedy. Race is secondary here to the familial connection Obama establishes between him and the slain boy.”
“Here (Obama) speaks as a parent. The outrage of a black parent proves to be far more sympathetic than the outrage of a black man. Our first black president is transforming the language of race into the language of family. While Trayvon Martin’s death exposes the myth of a post-racial America, Obama may at last have found the key to a post-racial discourse.”
For additional information about Stephanie Li, visit http://www.rochester.edu/college/eng/faculty/stephanie_li.html
About the University of RochesterThe University of Rochester (www.rochester.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by its Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.
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