Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiorenza
What really bugs me is that Obama’s campaign is designed to appeal to voters on the basis of race and class, while anyone who opposes him is “using race as an issue.”
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Oh, Fiorenza, you know that's baloney. You've been sitting here whaling away for days on what you believe Obama's economic plan to be and nobody has suggested that was based on race.
In the larger picture, of course Obama's race is an issue in this campaign. (So is McCain's for that matter, but people don't talk about it because he's a member of the race presidential candidates are expected to belong to). But think about it -- when I was growing up, blacks could not buy a hot dog or a cup of coffee in any restaurant preferred by white people. They had to step off the elevator if I got on, and that applied even if the black person was a doctor or a college professor and I was just a little snot-nosed white kid. Blacks could not attend state universities like Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia, although they were required to pay for them. A black police officer could not arrest a white person. Blacks were not allowed to go to the movies, ride on a train or airplane, go to the doctor, stay in a hotel or even go to the bathroom unless they remained in strictly segregated areas. And if they dared to violate any of these or countless other rules, they risked a severe beating, lynching, prison, or in some cities having the police dogs and fire hoses turned on them. A man who almost became mayor of Atlanta and was later elected governor of Georgia gained his fame by selling axe handles as a symbol of white supremacy. I saw the KKK marching through the streets of downtown Atlanta in broad daylight.
While I'm older than dirt, none of this was very long ago at all. Blacks had been held in legal slavery for 350 years in America, and then for another 100 years after than in conditions which weren't a whole lot better.
And if you think all this is washed away in a few years, think about your own life. I'll bet you $100 that you can remember every time you or your family was put down, insulted or slighted, and that it still stings and burns when you think about it.
When I was growing up, I don't believe it was on anybody's radar screen that a black guy like Barack Obama could be a serious candidate for president of the United States with a decent chance of winning. So yeah, his race is a big deal.
That certainly doesn't make him immune from criticism and he's getting truckloads of it daily. And so he should, just like every other candidate. I've yet to hear Obama complain that it is racist, but if it is, too bad. In my opinion it perpetuates racism to not talk about it. Let's get all that crap out on the table and start dealing with it. Obama's tough enough to handle it.
What can white people do about this? Well, for one thing they can quit getting all bowed up and thin-skinned about the fear that somebody somewhere might say they are racist. So what? Get over it. Maybe we are in some ways or maybe we're not, but we're never going to get anywhere if people (yes, liberals as well as conservatives) can't get over this phobia about being politically correct. I’m tempted to tell them that if you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen, but frankly I’d rather them come on in and get barbecued with the rest of us.