This ended up much more coherent than I thought it would be
It's a fine day this morning. The dawning of a new era...
or something.
Barrack Obama. Barrack Obama and his audacious hope. As Many of you know I don't posses the same kind of faith in the areas of government that others tend to. Not that I have no faith in Obama, I just think my faith is different. There's a lot I want to say about this day and I don't think I can make it into a coherent, flowing myriad of ideas so I guess I'll do more of a list, but I'll still try to connect it all somehow.
It makes me sad and upset that the American people and the Obama campaign were not "allowed" to mention race throughout the year before the election but then literally the night he got elected it was all of a sudden safe to talk about how he is the first Black president. On top of that, Obama is more white than Black (what is Black is more directly African than African-American, which is an important distinction), but for whatever reason the nation still conforms to the one drop rule and Obama is fully Black. But Obama couldn't've talked about race, or he'll end up like Cynthia McKinney (CA Green Party endorsed presidential candidate this year) who "cried racist" and was publicly criticized for doing so (for an awesome analysis of how/why these events occur find a copy/borrow mine of Racial Paranoia which is written by John L. Jackson Jr., the same author as that blog). It sucks too that the emphasis is on Obama's race (remember, race doesn't exist, has no basis in science and is a complete social construction) now because if his vision of hope, by some miracle, matches up to all the varying visions of hope his supporters subscribe to then he will be accepted as the example of what Black people "can and should be." If one Black guy can make it, then any Black guy can and race/racism is no excuse for shortcomings (lets not forget the legacy of disaccumulation left for the many disenfranchised Blacks/minorities, not to mention overt racism which can and does keep the American dream from being realized). I can't tell you how many times I heard "America is officially no longer a racist nation" the week after Obama's election. Plenty of people still can continue racist beliefs while still viewing Obama as an exception. Take for examples the of the two couples who claimed they'd "vote for the nigger." [example 1, example 2] On the other side, if Obama does not live up to the expectations of hope and change (which vary pretty dramatically based on what the people who hold them desire and need) then I think it would be hard for future prominent minority politicians to overcome the comparisons that will be made between them and Obama (made both by the media and subconsciously by the people).
Part of me even wants to say that I wish there had been prominent Black candidates for presidents before Obama that had media coverage and a chance at winning but then lost so that people wouldn't exoticize Obama so much as "the amazing successful Black guy." As with all things, time will tell what this guy is gonna do.
or something.
Barrack Obama. Barrack Obama and his audacious hope. As Many of you know I don't posses the same kind of faith in the areas of government that others tend to. Not that I have no faith in Obama, I just think my faith is different. There's a lot I want to say about this day and I don't think I can make it into a coherent, flowing myriad of ideas so I guess I'll do more of a list, but I'll still try to connect it all somehow.
It makes me sad and upset that the American people and the Obama campaign were not "allowed" to mention race throughout the year before the election but then literally the night he got elected it was all of a sudden safe to talk about how he is the first Black president. On top of that, Obama is more white than Black (what is Black is more directly African than African-American, which is an important distinction), but for whatever reason the nation still conforms to the one drop rule and Obama is fully Black. But Obama couldn't've talked about race, or he'll end up like Cynthia McKinney (CA Green Party endorsed presidential candidate this year) who "cried racist" and was publicly criticized for doing so (for an awesome analysis of how/why these events occur find a copy/borrow mine of Racial Paranoia which is written by John L. Jackson Jr., the same author as that blog). It sucks too that the emphasis is on Obama's race (remember, race doesn't exist, has no basis in science and is a complete social construction) now because if his vision of hope, by some miracle, matches up to all the varying visions of hope his supporters subscribe to then he will be accepted as the example of what Black people "can and should be." If one Black guy can make it, then any Black guy can and race/racism is no excuse for shortcomings (lets not forget the legacy of disaccumulation left for the many disenfranchised Blacks/minorities, not to mention overt racism which can and does keep the American dream from being realized). I can't tell you how many times I heard "America is officially no longer a racist nation" the week after Obama's election. Plenty of people still can continue racist beliefs while still viewing Obama as an exception. Take for examples the of the two couples who claimed they'd "vote for the nigger." [example 1, example 2] On the other side, if Obama does not live up to the expectations of hope and change (which vary pretty dramatically based on what the people who hold them desire and need) then I think it would be hard for future prominent minority politicians to overcome the comparisons that will be made between them and Obama (made both by the media and subconsciously by the people).
Part of me even wants to say that I wish there had been prominent Black candidates for presidents before Obama that had media coverage and a chance at winning but then lost so that people wouldn't exoticize Obama so much as "the amazing successful Black guy." As with all things, time will tell what this guy is gonna do.