People are very insulted if you imply that they are voting based on racism (believe me, I know this from personal experience). To even suggest it is to end a lot of conversations. I try to be careful but I hear the code words, the things they suggest that they would deny are racist. These are the things they find as reasons to vote instead of the reason they cannot name.
I thought this article by Kristof did a good job on what is at stake here and why racism can be a factor even without someone being a conscious bigot-- Racism without Racists.
A union man, AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka, also addresses the racism that so many are finding as a reason, an unspoken reason, for not supporting Barack Obama. They don't know why, or can't admit to themselves that they feel fear at the very thought of him as president. It's not about his issues, which might even be ones with which they agree, but something else, something they won't or can't admit.
Incidentally, I would not suggest that everyone who votes for McCain is doing so for racist reasons. I am well aware that there are issues that someone could not like about Obama's positions and vote against him for those reasons. The ideal is that we don't see either of them racially but instead look at their character and temperament for leadership.
A lot of McCain advisers, including Palin, want to make Reverend Wright an issue in these waning days of the campaign. McCain has said no before, that religion should stay out of it, but it's in it so many ways already that I suspect Wright already is and might become increasingly a big issue for some (while ignoring Palin's own fringe religious positions).
Wright is an easy target to use against Obama because he was closer to him than to Ayers or Rezko, more ground they can actually use. Wright condemned this country as having done wrong. We all know we are an exceptional people and can't really have done anything wrong. For Palin to hit on this is hypocritical given her connection to the Alaskan Secessionist Party, whose founder also said bad things about what the United States has done. Hypocrisy is not bigotry though.
This election is not just about voting against someone-- although McCain has given plenty of reasons to do that. It is about knowing what we are voting for. It's about voting for ideas that can change this country into what it had promised to be and recently has lost track. If we keep going as we have been, we know where we are heading-- a debtor nation who has lost its potential, who brags to its own how wonderful it is, but can't fool the world. Worse it will have left its middle class behind, turned its workers into a serf class, in its rush to assure billions for a few.
Anyway back to racism, watch this YouTube. This guy gets it!
9 comments:
I can say with cetainty that there will be Americans who will not vote for Obama due solely to his race. I have known such people for all of my life. While they may be a small minority of voters they do exist. The issue of race shadows and burdens America .
I liked this video. I have railed against racism since I was 12 years old. It's never made a lot of sense to me for anyone to be a racist because if I truly accept Christianity, I believe that we are all God's children. It doesn't say in the Bible that God created White Man. The so-called Christians who base their votes on race infuriate me. No, I'm not 100% for Obama but my choice has nothing to do with his race. I am 100% against McCain-Palin because they are fueling the race issue and that, in my mind, is reprehensible.
The operative phrase from our Constitution is "ALL men are created equal" and I would advise anyone who disagrees with that to get the hell out of my country.
These last two weeks are going to be a long and grueling slog. Race has been a subtext to the campaigns, but I suspect it will rear its ugly head as we near the finish line. It is disappointing that something as absurdly insignificant as skin color can have such an impact on how people view the world, but that's what we have. I believe the election of the first black president could go a long way in civilizing our nation.
Ir has been said that reverse racism will balance out the bigots. The logic is, that some blacks will vote for Obama because he is black. I am prejudiced against prejudice of any kind. I am not like that sick joke, "There's only two things I hate - prejudice and niggers." I simply have no use for narrow and closed minded people who are so insecure that they have to find someone to hate so they can feel superior.
Well you know why and how I feel about racism. I keep wondering how long does it take people to stop seeing color or whatever they feel makes someone "different" from them. Maybe never, but I hope not.
I know what you mean. But I'm nearly 52, and I know what it's like to grow up hearing the things women my age heard. And Obama IS half one race, and half another. He is so far above and beyond John McCain that it, to me, is ludicrous to even consider wondering which one should vote for. You're right: the world looks at us in a much different light than we look at ourselves.
Brenda
It is too bad that some people will not vote for Obama just because he is half black. When I first learned about him, that is one of the things I liked about him because that is the future of America. One day we are all going to be a light brown mixture of European, Asian and African peoples.
Also there are some people that are going to vote for him just because he is black. People like Oprah who would not let any other presidential candidates on her show because she does not let politicians come on, but she let Obama come on.
I also find it funny that most black celebrities were not supporting Obama early on because Hillary was the standard bearer for the Democratic Party and Obama was not black enough or famous enough or something for them to get behind.
Personally I do not plan to vote for Obama because of the things he has said about his policies. I say give him some more time in the Senate to prove himself and actually show up to vote a few times and take a position on the issues and then maybe I will like him better.
Great idea, ingineer, let McCain and if he should die, Palin, further screw up this country like Bush has. Just what we need to finally convince Americans that Republicans don't care about the working class people but they use them. Although 4 more years of that kind of destructive governing, another war possibly, more deficits and there may be nothing to pick up...
Just out of curiosity, did you watch that video and see what that guy said? Did you read the Rolling Stone article on McCain, about who the guy really is? Or is this all about a fear that if you make over $250,000, you don't want to pay more taxes. You do know that you'd have a cut below it with that part of your income and only pay the higher percentage on that part above. Do you really believe we can keep going as we have been? I guess you do or you'd not vote for more of GW Bush and a religious zealot to possibly be our next president. You just might get what you want. This election is not remotely settled. People who think like you is why we had Bush for 8 years and are in the mess we are in.
Yes I watched the video at least almost all of it. And I do not make $250k per year but I do not need to get even with the people that do.
And Palin's religious beliefs do scare me. I still do not feel like I am voting for McCain, I feel like I am "not" voting for Obama/Biden. I do not care for either candidate.
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