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Will Racism Cost Obama the Election?
by
Mary Shaw | 09.24.2008
Hostile shouts of "n____ lover!" were hurled at me by the people I had gone to high school with. Just because I had dated someone with a superficial difference....And, to this day, I will bet that most of those people will not vote for Barack Obama simply because of the color of his skin. SEE ALSO: Obama and 'the Bubba Vote', by Mumia Abu-Jamal Will racism cost Obama the election? By Mary Shaw (reprinted with permisiion from www.maryshawonline.com) Most Americans believe that this nation is on the wrong track. We want change. Why then are Barack Obama and John McCain running neck-and-neck in the polls? Do people not realize that McCain has voted with George W. Bush 95 percent of the time? That shows you where his priorities lie -- with the neocon agenda and the oil executives. Or is race an issue, even here in the 21st century? Sadly, I suspect that it is. I grew up in a small redneck town in rural north-central Pennsylvania. From the little bit of news I still receive from back there, I can tell that it still harbors the same closed xenophobic culture in which I grew up feeling like a fish out of water. They don't like outsiders. They don't like anyone or anything that differs from the mundane white Christian blandness that they are accustomed to. Their worldview is very limited, and any expansion of it seems daunting and is therefore dismissed with anger. And so, as Obama so famously observed, they cling to their guns and religion. I remember walking through that town on a weekend home from college 30 years ago, just after word got out that I had dated a black guy at school. Hostile shouts of "n____ lover!" were hurled at me by the people I had gone to high school with. Just because I had dated someone with a superficial difference. Someone whom they would never get to know as the smart, funny, congenial man that he was -- because of an irrational prejudice. And, to this day, I will bet that most of those people will not vote for Barack Obama simply because of the color of his skin. And so they will instead vote against their own best interests. Despite the fiasco in Iraq and its cost in dollars and in lives. Despite the sorry state of our economy. Despite the price of gasoline. Despite the fact that some 47 million of us have no health insurance coverage. And despite all those American jobs being shipped overseas by companies who want to take advantage of the tax breaks that McCain helped to enable. And it's not an issue just in my old hometown. I frequently talk with people all across this nation who recognize that there are a lot of American voters -- not just the rednecks -- who will not vote for a black man. In fact, a new AP-Yahoo poll reveals that "one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks -- many calling them 'lazy,' 'violent,' responsible for their own troubles." One-third! And there may also be those who will tell the pollsters that skin color makes no difference; but, when they're alone in the voting booth, with the curtain drawn, can they vote with their brains and not with their fears and prejudices? I hope so. But I am not optimistic.
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Comments
Sorry Mary
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 10:01pmIt is simply that Obama is a socialist muslim. That is what is going to cost him the election. By the way, isn't he more Arab than black? Seems like I read that he was. It seems that you are still out of place with normal everyday Americans. It is revealing that it is the Democrats who will be perceived as racists. Republicans ain't gonna vote for him anyway, so it will be the Democrats who vote Mccain who will be called racist. If a black person votes for Obama because he is black, is that racist. How about a black person who votes for Mccain, is he racist. This isn't racism, it is refusal to vote for a socialist muslim who has some serious flaws other than that.
Typical Rush Limbaugh lies
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 7:30amConservatives don't remember the mini-scandalette over Reverend Wright? Wright, as we liberals remember it, was a rouge CHRISTIAN pastor who, yes, said some silly things and was properly shunned for them.
Ah, but when Rushbo says "The official history is now changed [to the latest Republican line of the day]," all conservatives line right up and start repeating "Obama is a Muslim!"
Here's the latest Limbaugh crap:
"Limbaugh repeats baseless smear that Obama is misrepresenting his ethnicity"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809220015?f=h_latest
I like how....
Submitted by Smash racism (not verified) on Sat, 09/27/2008 - 6:47pm...this brash commenter helps to prove Mary's point.
Classic!
Sad, but true.
Submitted by Will (not verified) on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 7:53pmIt's sad, but what Mary says is true. Many Americans are likely to vote McCain for no other reason that that they can't abide the idea of a black president (or a socialism Muslim half Arab president, if that's really what you believe responder # 1). In America there is a widespread culture of narrow-minded xenophobia that prevents people from exposing themselves to new ideas. We shouldn't care what color or race or religion the president is. Those things will not determine how he leads the nation. His political ideology however will. But people don't understand political ideology. People shout things like "Socialist" as if it were an insult without even knowing what the word means. Ideologies are difficult to see and understand. It's much easier just to look on the surface and determine superficially whether or not you like what you see. Too many people do this.
However, there is still hope. Current polls (2nd October) show that Obamba has a 9% lead over McCain). If everyone intelligent and informed enough to recognize that that what Bush stands for is not beneficial to America and that McCain stands for the same things is able take a chance on a black man and get out there and vote, then there is quite possible that reason will prevail over prejudice.
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