You've been holding on so long, trying to make believe nothing's wrong
http://poplicks.com/2008/11/what-hasnt-changed-in-america.html
A fantastic post written by Oliver Wang, or as we affectionately call him, O-Dub. The post really brings into perspective what Obama's win actually means, not what we'd all like it to mean.
To summarize:
Electing a black man to presidency doesn't actually mean America is magically, suddenly not-racist anymore. Obama is one black man out of millions. Moreover, Obama actually failed to win the white vote, managing to get only 43%. This means that if only white people were allowed to vote in America, McCain would have won. My brain can't even comprehend that. Moreover, no Democratic president has won the white vote since 1964. So what does this mean?
Obama's election isn't actually a shift in racial acceptance. First of all, people weren't only voting based on race. There were a number of important issues at hand. Second of all, based on the previously stated facts, what this election actually reveals is the change of America's demographics. And so on, and so forth.
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It's a good article. I think my brain is still tripping out over the fact that the majority of white people vote Republican. I guess I shouldn't be, but I am? America is such a weird country. The fact that the presidency cannot be won by the majority group is really just amazing. I don't think any other country in the world can boast that.
I'm always afraid that if I were to ever study abroad in Asia, people would just think I'm a local and try to talk to me in whatever language. But no, sorry, I can't talk to you, I'm American. I like that there is no such thing as a 'face' of America. Even though I, and most people in the world, still think of America as blonde-haired, brown-eyed and fair-skinned, it really isn't just like that!
As I write this up, I realized that I haven't been in a majority white setting since elementary school. Even then, only from 3rd to 5th grade. My first elementary school was majority Latino, second elementary school was majority white, middle school was majority Asian, high school majority Latino, and college majority Asian. That's really amazing. Even though Asians make up only a single-digit percentage of the American population at large, there are communities were I am not a minority. My brain cannot comprehend how amazing that is!
A fantastic post written by Oliver Wang, or as we affectionately call him, O-Dub. The post really brings into perspective what Obama's win actually means, not what we'd all like it to mean.
To summarize:
Electing a black man to presidency doesn't actually mean America is magically, suddenly not-racist anymore. Obama is one black man out of millions. Moreover, Obama actually failed to win the white vote, managing to get only 43%. This means that if only white people were allowed to vote in America, McCain would have won. My brain can't even comprehend that. Moreover, no Democratic president has won the white vote since 1964. So what does this mean?
Obama's election isn't actually a shift in racial acceptance. First of all, people weren't only voting based on race. There were a number of important issues at hand. Second of all, based on the previously stated facts, what this election actually reveals is the change of America's demographics. And so on, and so forth.
---
It's a good article. I think my brain is still tripping out over the fact that the majority of white people vote Republican. I guess I shouldn't be, but I am? America is such a weird country. The fact that the presidency cannot be won by the majority group is really just amazing. I don't think any other country in the world can boast that.
I'm always afraid that if I were to ever study abroad in Asia, people would just think I'm a local and try to talk to me in whatever language. But no, sorry, I can't talk to you, I'm American. I like that there is no such thing as a 'face' of America. Even though I, and most people in the world, still think of America as blonde-haired, brown-eyed and fair-skinned, it really isn't just like that!
As I write this up, I realized that I haven't been in a majority white setting since elementary school. Even then, only from 3rd to 5th grade. My first elementary school was majority Latino, second elementary school was majority white, middle school was majority Asian, high school majority Latino, and college majority Asian. That's really amazing. Even though Asians make up only a single-digit percentage of the American population at large, there are communities were I am not a minority. My brain cannot comprehend how amazing that is!