Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: News

Dave Roediger, history professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, talks about his book "How Race Survived U.S. History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon" in the Coleman Hall auditorium Tuesday evening. (Eric Hiltner / The Daily Eastern News)

The election of President Barack Obama has led many to believe that the issues surrounding race in America are over.

White and black are no longer factors that define or separate us. But the induction ceremony is over and the daily truths remain.

Undocumented South American immigrants still work underpaid at dangerous factory jobs. Just last week, a noose was found on an African-American's desk in Louisiana.

The hope of an entire culture has been placed on Obama's shoulders, but instead professor Dave Roediger said we should look to history to ground our hope.

Roediger spoke last night about his experiences growing up in Cairo - a small town in Illinois where a daily 6 p.m. whistle would blow, signaling the time when African-Americans had to be outside of the city limits.

His background and first-hand experiences eventually led him to the field of "critical whiteness studies," or looking at "whiteness" as a problem.

A professor of history at the University of Illinois, Roediger spoke about the fate of racism in America and how it may be close to an end. However, it is not over yet.

By pointing out specific events in American history, including two racially charged court cases Abraham Lincoln was involved with, Roediger outlined the institutionalized origins and important landmarks in the development of American racism.

Dr. Klevor Abo, a professor in the African American studies department, brought Roediger to Eastern as part of the African American Heritage Month celebrations.

Race is fictional &emdash; it's about who holds the power, said Abo, who eagerly introduced Roediger to the audience of more than 50 people.

"We all have prejudices, no matter the color of our skin," said Roediger, who also said there is no single solution to racism.

However, with the promise of change Roediger said people should push their hopes to the ground, to the people, making it possible for the leaders to make the transformations the nation believes in.




More African-American Heritage Month events:



Emily Steele can be reached at 581-7942 or at easteele2@eiu.edu.