At a lecture sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Center on Race and Social Problems, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Ph.D., said Sen. Barack Obama is not the symbol many perceive him to be.

“Symbols work in many directions,” said Bonilla-Silva, a sociology professor at Duke University. “(Obama’s) going to be a truncated symbol; both segments happy, but for totally different reasons—we have to understand what does it mean for Black communities and White communities.”

THE SOCIOLOGIST—Eduardo Bonilla-Silva discussed race issues involving Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

During the Oct. 16 lecture, “Racism, Discrimination, Colorblindness, and Race Matters in Obamerica,” Bonilla-Silva used Obama’s presidential campaign to show how and where racism exists today.

He discussed “new-racism,” meaning “the post-civil rights racial system of subtle, institutionalized, and apparently non-racial practices that maintains White supremacy and its accompanying racial ideology of color-blind racism.”

Instead of seeing Obama as the end of this racism, Bonilla-Silva said his campaign success has been based largely on his ability to appear raceless. Although he admitted Obama could be a good role model, Bonilla-Silva said it is more important for him to create “real change.”

“People say how about the little Black child who can now say, ‘you know what, I can be the president of the United States,’ research shows our kids do not lack self esteem,” Bonilla-Silva said. “What they lack is opportunities to make their aspirations real.”

In light of what Bonilla-Silva termed “Obamamania,” he said Obama’s success has suspended the analysis of racial problems.

“Hope is good, but hope doesn’t feed your stomach,” he said. “Hope is great, but I also want to be able to pay my mortgage.”

Bonilla-Silva encouraged the audience to use Obama to push for social politics that would help end racism and other social issues. He said Obama is currently a centrist liberal and people should try to push him more to the left.

“I think we should begin articulating more progressive policies,” Bonilla-Silva said. “We have to say Obama, you have to deliver. We have been suffering.”

This lecture was the second in the Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney PC Fall 2008 Speaker Series. The next lecture “Unfinished Business: The Impact of Race on Understanding Mentoring Relationships” will be held Nov. 11.