Racism in America

[Sean]

So this was a bit disheartening to see.

"Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.

Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America."

The specific examples cited in the article seem to become increasingly alarming the longer you read. Certainly not surprising, but it makes you wonder what we can possibly do to get past this kind of raging ignorance. Hopefully, slow and steady wins the race, but it makes me sad.

[gambit]

Yeah, I read that too, and my heart just sunk. I know this certainly isn't the majority of people who didn't vote for Obama, but it's way too much. The best way to fight against this is for Obama to have a good presidency. If he can fix some things in this country, hopefully people won't have much to complain about.

But you know what? I really want to see Gov. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal of Louisiana get the Republican nomination in 2012. From what I've read about him, I certainly don't agree with his politics, but still. Just imagine neither of the two major party candidates being white. An African-American vs. an Indian-American would just kill the racists. Hell, imagine all the rednecks fumbling around with calling him Indian (all the way from India and not Native American) and trying to deflect his actual Hindu upbringing.

[dubman]

yeah there's always going to be that

something i find a little more interesting to watch for is how obama's victory seems to be yet another in the long line of "events" white people use saying that because he's been elected that we've "overcome the hurdles of history and black people no longer have an excuse"
as if systemic inequality is suddenly nobody's problem but their own so it's open season to totally ignore them or actually "hold them accountable" for their own poverty.

what have you got to complain about? one of your own is now the president.

it blatantly looks like it's doing the opposite and seeking to justify ones prejudices with the moral salve of obama's presidency to assure them that theyre perfectly fine in thinking this way.

also, now that obama's president we obviously live in a post-racism america where we can make jokes about "dune coons" and the laughter is purely in the spirit of a well appreciated joke. yeop.

theres always going to be the classic fucks who set fire to things and become the future antagonists of oscar-baiting movies. it's when yr own nice-suit co-workers in a 66/33 obama state start in on the nigger jokes at work that racism isn't even close to being the soon-antiquated notion everyone seems to be hawking about.

or maybe even just bill bennett

Anderson Cooper: I mean, if he does become president, and it still is an if, does anyone know what this means in terms of change of race relations in the United States, or perception of?

Bennett: Well, I'll tell you one thing it means, as a former Secretary of Education: You don't take any excuses anymore from anybody who says, 'The deck is stacked, I can't do anything, there's so much in-built this and that.' There are always problems in a big society. But we have just -- if this turns out to be the case, President Obama -- we have just achieved an incredible milestone. For which the rest of the world needs to have more respect for the United States than it sometimes does.

a curve ball could be thrown to the deep-hick america if the republicans take jindal seriously as a presidential candidate, but it'd just be more of the same. they can "look past" jindals background so that means that they're not the racists everyone makes them out to be etc etc

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by gambit

I know this certainly isn't the majority of people who didn't vote for Obama...

precisely, which is why i take issue with this:

Originally Posted by Sean

Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony...

disheartening, yes. however, not exactly pandemic. the problem is, it's like the public and the media are in cahoots to try to deliberately ruin our own afterglow. we've been bracing since election night for these events to occur. like we just knew something would happen so we waited with baited breath. we can't wait to be victimized or at least share in the victimization by proxy.

it's just really irritating. we KNOW racism is alive and well. this isn't new information. so why are we wallowing around in this like it's a revelation?

[dubman]

i get the impression that a lot of our televised history is simply "willed" into existence. if enough people write about a certain sentiment blooming around a period of time, all it needs is traction for people to "remember" it that way, or use that version as the precedent.

so then i start thinking that so many people want this time to be one of those moments. a grandchild-relating, PBS documentary, stirring-soundtrack moment. the moment where not just a black man was elected president, but where we made the great leap of suddenly escaping the complexities and social headache of racial tension and privilege and entered this momentous, natural awakening. stragglers will be stragglers, but the popular dialogue would be forever changed.

there was a lot of optimism for that time to be okay, make right, and move on. unfortunately it was just another ez-serv attempt at dodging reality and the window is closing very quickly on that idea.

the california elections no doubt disabused many people of these high-tootin notions, but not every state had near-disastrous state elections like ours did.

[gillenium]

There's less of this stuff than you'd think. Media people just hunt them down so they can make a story.

I live in West Virginia, which has one of the lowest percentages of black people in the country. You know how many racists I've met in my life? Maybe one. My grandma refers to black people as "colored" and she still voted for Obama, haha.

Don't let this stuff get you down. This country has become steadily less racist with each generation. The fact that we elected a black president (by a large margin) is a testament to that.

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by gillenium

There's less of this stuff than you'd think. Media people just hunt them down so they can make a story.

right, like OMG THOUSANDS OF HILLARY SUPPORTERS WHO WILL VOTE FOR MCCAIN OUT OF PROTEST!!!!!

which.... didn't happen.

they just managed to find a vocal handful of bitter chicks.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Originally Posted by dubman

... stragglers will be stragglers, but the popular dialogue would be forever changed.

I'm speechless. I like you again.



(hey?)




OK, I want these damn codes. NOOOOOWWWWW!

[Sean]

Originally Posted by cacophony

disheartening, yes. however, not exactly pandemic. the problem is, it's like the public and the media are in cahoots to try to deliberately ruin our own afterglow. we've been bracing since election night for these events to occur. like we just knew something would happen so we waited with baited breath. we can't wait to be victimized or at least share in the victimization by proxy.

it's just really irritating. we KNOW racism is alive and well. this isn't new information. so why are we wallowing around in this like it's a revelation?

To me, it's more that this election has simply brought some of the racism I already knew existed out of the closet. It hasn't revealed some kind of big surprise or anything - it's just made it slightly easier to see exactly where and with whom the bigotry is located. Again, that's just how it hits me personally.

Where it hits all of us and legitimately warrants our attention is when you read that Obama has reportedly been on the receiving end of more death threats than any other President-Elect in history. It's probably safe to draw a correlation between these reports and the color of his skin unfortunately.

It may not be a revelation, but having our first black President certainly brings the subject to the forefront of our consciousness, and gives us an opportunity to make some much needed progress as a result - as long as some nut-job doesn't take it upon themselves to screw it all up.

[gambit]

I was very worried something would happen to him during the election, especially when he walked around random neighborhoods where the Secret Service only had so much control over his protection. Now, he doesn't have to do that, so I feel a little better, but this country has the unfortunate track record of its inspirational leaders getting killed.

But I don't think race is the only thing Obama has to deal with. I've been checking out comments on my local newspaper's website, and about half the commentors think he's a secret Arab Muslim terrorist/Marxist-socialist/future Hitler. It's not just his race that's playing a factor.