Racism is over in The United States! Woo-hoo, go tell it on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere. We have a Black president (cue the fireworks and bald eagles soaring over snow covered mountain tops and pictures of smiling children)!
Well, this is what a seemingly endless supply of internet forum posters and bloggers (none from this site I deeply hope!) would have you believe.
There are at least two reasons why this reasoning is so entirely wrong. 1). Just because the majority of people voted for a person doesn't mean that any individual person isn't racist. The majority of people in The United States think gay marriage is wrong, that doesn't mean I do! 2). Even among those who voted for Obama, people may have been more willing (in some cases) to vote for him if he was White.
(and yes, I am sure his race helped him in some cases, but that isn't the point of this blog).
Not all people saying this lack intelligence, however (as hard as that is too believe). They are just deeply motivated to maintain the status quo and belief in a just world. Countless studies show that people (conservatives especially) are highly motivated to see the world as fair, orderly and just.
So in other words, people are so motivated to see the world as fair and just that it greatly clouds their otherwise fine ability to reason and think. This leaves us with people saying such stupid things as "racism is over, we have a Black President."
see also, Scott Barry Kaufman's PT blog on this topic:http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/200902/obama-is-president-so-racism-is-over-right
