With the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, the immediate buzz was that the United States has entered a “post-racial” society. There is a problem with that phrase: 1) there is no clear-cut definition of what “post-racial” means; 2) there can be no exit of the racist past of this country without a clear acceptance that this country has in fact been racist.

“The Myth of Post-Racialism” will examine what the term “postracial” means, and offer an argument that until there is real understanding of racism, why and how it is such a deeply-rooted disease, and how the church’s complicity in keeping racism alive have all kept this peculiarly American illness alive and contagious, there can never be the claim of this nation being in a post-racial position.

Reverend Dr. Susan K. Smith is a former news reporter, talk show host and now Senior Pastor of Advent United Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio. Author of four books, her work also appears weekly on The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog, as a member of a panel of theologians, scholars and writers who comment on issues pertinent to religion.