The Race Problematic, the Narrative of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Election of Barack Obama

Abstract

Arguably, race has been and remains the most intractable problem in the United States. Race defines and shapes the dichotomous social and human relations that have historically specified the juxtaposition of the supremacy, right, privilege, and morality of the “white” and the “non-white.” In specific terms, race is a marker that describes, informs, and bounds white and non-white people within structures of power and domination. If we accept race as a social construction, then we must also accept it as a category by which all groups in the American society are identified. We must also understand that while whites possess race, they are not raced. To be raced in the American society is to be identified as non-white. Historically, this especially has been the case for black people.