I think it's good that the racial angle of Barack's candidacy is inspiring, especially when it's opening doors, eyes, and kids' minds.
I just think people mean it shouldn't be ONLY about race. I think you have to make it clear to them (and it sounds like you already have) that he's not winning because he's a token who can get all the black and guilty-white-liberal vote, but rather because he's highly educated, qualified for the job and a charismatic leader. I also think it's important to play against the media's pernicious spin that this nomination is a battle between old white women and young black people. One has to make it clear to kids that the phony demographics battles they need to make up to fill the airtime on the "news" are not the real fight happening, and that it's between political campaigns instead, so young folks don't get sucked into the mainstream's "football team colors" mentality any more than everyone else already has.
The weird thing is that I don't KNOW any old white people who are voting for Hillary, and certainly not for McCain. In fact, the ONLY people I knew who voted for Hillary were my grandmother and her brothers, and that is because my great-grandmother loved Hillary so much (she was a voters rights advocate and got to meet the Clintons) that I think they did it out of loyalty to their mother. Boy, are they regretting that now. My grandmother wrote me an email that said that Hillary "tore her draws with me!!!"
Yeah, like I said -- most of the demographics crap is a media creation. After all, Oregon and Iowa are both about 1.4% or less NON-white. And Montana, which he's gonna win next, is 0.4% white and the fifth poorest ("working class") state in the nation.
Well, the demographics stuff is just being misreported. Obama's going to get soundly defeated by rural poor whites in Appalachia. That's the demographic he can't win. But there's so many electoral maps that he can win without that subset of a subset that it's not a huge issue.
I told my mother that if the DNC takes this nomination away from Obama, the second civil rights movement that will occur is going to make the old one look like a walk in Central Park on a lovely spring day. The youth are going to be outraged, blacks are going to feel betrayed, and I think it'll be a serious eye-opener to those whites who truly believe that you can work and earn your way out of racism, like Obama supposedly has. It seems to me that Hillary's supporters are voting against Obama but not for Hillary, while Obama's supporters are voting for Obama. We have something akin to a gigantic, happy brotherhood. The press can piss on the audacity of hope if they want to, but hope is the child of joy, and when a few people come in and snatch it away after we've earned it fair and square, upheavals tend to ensue
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"Movement" isn't quite the word I'm looking for, neither is "revolution." I think "upheaval" is probably best. All I know is that it's damn sure going to be something, and it's not going to end well. Before now, we've voted for our candidates because we really had no choice. And if Hillary gets in, it'll be the same way for a lot of us. (I hate her, but I hate the thought of not having the right to choose more.) Whereas with Obama, we feel like we've CHOSEN him. Take that away from us and tell us "nah, we'll tell you who's best for you," and I just don't think we can take that one more time
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From the north! Heaven forbid! Although I'm just outside DC, it's just outside to the south, where we do not consider ourselves northerners (although clearly you are farther south than I am).
My students, while they are excited, they are mostly surprised. There is the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I hope that the system works like it should so these hopes aren't crushed.
About your last paragraph, probably the angriest I have ever been with Hillary was over the assassination comments. Several times students have said things to me about being afraid for Obama (a few days it was, "Ms. H., do you think somebody's going to pull a MLK Jr. on him?") We discussed how hopefully society has evolved since then, but I was livid that she could mention things like that like they're nothing . . .
I don't go to a predominately African American school but I've noticed that people are really interested in this election. In my government class we've been covering it and almost everybody in the class knew the results of primaries and things of the sort before our teacher even told us. I think this election is just sparking a lot of interest in the youth. And as a minority (I'm Mexican-American) it is really nice to see that white people are actually voting for this guy. I didn't think it was possible either. I supported him from the start but I didn't think he'd make it. It amazes me to see huge majority white crowds come out in support of him. I love it. It gives me hope.
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I think it's good that the racial angle of Barack's candidacy is inspiring, especially when it's opening doors, eyes, and kids' minds.
I just think people mean it shouldn't be ONLY about race. I think you have to make it clear to them (and it sounds like you already have) that he's not winning because he's a token who can get all the black and guilty-white-liberal vote, but rather because he's highly educated, qualified for the job and a charismatic leader. I also think it's important to play against the media's pernicious spin that this nomination is a battle between old white women and young black people. One has to make it clear to kids that the phony demographics battles they need to make up to fill the airtime on the "news" are not the real fight happening, and that it's between political campaigns instead, so young folks don't get sucked into the mainstream's "football team colors" mentality any more than everyone else already has.
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Yeah, like I said -- most of the demographics crap is a media creation. After all, Oregon and Iowa are both about 1.4% or less NON-white. And Montana, which he's gonna win next, is 0.4% white and the fifth poorest ("working class") state in the nation.
So it's all bullshit.
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My students, while they are excited, they are mostly surprised. There is the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I hope that the system works like it should so these hopes aren't crushed.
About your last paragraph, probably the angriest I have ever been with Hillary was over the assassination comments. Several times students have said things to me about being afraid for Obama (a few days it was, "Ms. H., do you think somebody's going to pull a MLK Jr. on him?") We discussed how hopefully society has evolved since then, but I was livid that she could mention things like that like they're nothing . . .
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And as a minority (I'm Mexican-American) it is really nice to see that white people are actually voting for this guy. I didn't think it was possible either. I supported him from the start but I didn't think he'd make it. It amazes me to see huge majority white crowds come out in support of him. I love it. It gives me hope.
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