File: powell final for Darby 2009] Created on: 3/15/2009 12:55:00 PM Last Printed: 4/3/2009 10:11:00 AM POST-RACIALISM OR TARGETED UNIVERSALISM 805 ity.92 Lincoln supported the end of slavery but did not believe that the races could ever live together. Our very concept of freedom is bound up with the concept of slavery and unfreedom.93 In analyzing how Obama’s ascendancy to the presidency has changed and will change the process of racialization, we should congratulate ourselves. But we should also be deliberate and thoughtful about how to make the most of this important opportunity. The popular media and culture like the idea of post-racialism and colorblindness. Some have suggested that we are entering into a new era of colorblind racial dominance.94 Some have suggested that we are moving from a white and non-white society to a black and non-black society where educated and professional Blacks will be embraced as non-black, while those who are considered black will be extremely marginalized.95 The struggle for racial justice and fairness will need to focus on two related areas—the two emerging sites of racialization that are discussed above. First, we must develop a more sophisticated understanding of the working of the human mind, building on the research on neurolinguistics and implicit bias. Second, we must focus on the institutional arrangements and policy interactions and the work that they do with sensitivity to our situatedness. Where we are, and where we are going, in terms of racial justice is in flux and fluid. We are changing both as a matter of demographics, but more importantly as a matter of our history and practices. Where this journey and process will lead us is not predetermined. As we develop as a pluralistic nation, we must acknowledge that the racial binary is not a useful way to think about our journey. The language of race and racism does not adequately express all that needs to be conveyed in our discussion of race. We need a new way to talk about race and racialization, and a meaningful way to analyze racialization. A universal approach for inclusion requires sensitivity to our particular conditions.96 The approach focuses on outcomes not just inputs or design. Our communication strategy must be tailored to garner support for policies that are sensitive to the particular, but broadened to encompass universal concerns. In the final analysis, we should not allow this important milestone to blind us to the important work that needs to be done. We are not 92. Id. at 170. 93. See ORLANDO PATTERSON, FREEDOM: FREEDOM IN THE MAKING OF WESTERN CULTURE 10 (1991). 94. See Ian Haney Lopez, Colorblind White Dominance 18 (2006) (unpublished article on file with author). 95. GEORGE YANCEY, WHO IS WHITE? LATINOS, ASIANS, AND THE NEW BLACK/NON-BLACK DIVIDE 149-164 (2003). 96. This approach is not uniquely race sensitive. All groups and people at time will be situated in ways that are important to consider if they are to be full members of our society. See generally john a. powell, The Needs of Members in a Legitimate Democratic State, 44 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 969 (2004).