Historian: No 'post-racial' U.S.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A University of Illinois historian who specializes in racial issues said that Barack Obama's election wouldn't bring a "post-racial" United States.

In his book "How Race Survived U.S. History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon," David Roediger argues that the "systematic reproduction of inequality" began in the 1600s when the first slaves were imported from Africa and has continued through independence, emancipation and the growth of a free labor market.

"The idea of who gets what economically and who's entitled to what kinds of privileges are tied up with race right at the creation," he said in a release from the University of Illinois.

Government policies have contributed to continuing inequality, Roediger said. After World War II, the government in many ways subsidized the white move to the suburbs and the wealth gap between whites and blacks is now slightly larger than it was 50 years ago, he claims.

Black men are also more likely to be imprisoned for drug crimes, even though studies show that the races use drugs at about the same rate, Roediger said.