Is America a racist nation after all?

[brendan]

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/janetalbrechtsen/index.php/theaustralian/comments/is_america_a_racist_nation_after_all/#

If it’s racism when an American refuses to vote for Obama because he is black, surely it is also racism when an American votes for Obama because he is black. And can anyone deny that plenty of Americans did just that when they voted for him?

[lacoste]

would you rather vote for mc cain,
does mc cain offer the same values as obama?

[Eriny]

He didn't win because he's black. If a black person was an inadequate candidate they wouldn't be voted president, they wouldn't even be allowed to run.

Oh wait, George Bush was inadequate. Nevermind.

But yes, America is racist. Well, actually, I'd say that America has a heightened sense of nationalism more than racism, but whatever.

[Collin Li]

But yes, America is racist. Well, actually, I'd say that America has a heightened sense of nationalism more than racism, but whatever.

Certainly. They have both.

The rhetoric of Obama and McCain's anti-outsourcing is isolationist and extremely nationalistic.

[bturville]

*waits for costa to post*

[excal]

Seems like a bit of a catch-22 to me. Vote McCain and you're racist to the blacks. Vote Obama and you're racist to the whites.

Some fucking dilemma.

What about the Asians?

[costargh]

im not posting.... the irony of my post lol

[brendan]

Racism remains an issue for Americans
Shelby Steele
Shelby Steele is an author, columnist and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/racism-remains-an-issue-for-americans-20081106-5jap.html?page=-1

[Eriny]

Maybe having a black president will make America less racist. Like, those people, particularly in the South (there's probably not too many) who tell their kids that black people are scum and other stuff like that, will be undermined. The kids might be like, 'my parents tell me that black people are worse than me, but there's a black person who is leading this country.' And then there could be confusion, because these people are extremely patriotic,  it doesn't make sense for them to undermine a democratically elected president. It might not do much, but it's something, I suppose.

[bubble sunglasses]

   
   "Obama isn't black"
  http://www.tobyyoung.co.uk/

  "I don't get it. I mean, am I the only person in the world who's noticed that Barack Obama isn't black? He's bi-racial. I don't see why his election has prompted such an orgy of self-congratulation in America. How can the election of a light-skinned man of colour assuage the guilt white Americans feel about slavery? Slaves were black. Barack Obama isn't descended from slaves. He was born in Hawaii and raised by two white people. He looks like a skinny white guy with a tan. If America had elected a guy who looked like Robert Mugabe to become President, then I'd be impressed. But this guy? My Jewish father-in-law spends a week in the sun, he goes darker than Obama. I married his daughter. Does that make me a non-racist?

If this sounds a bit begrudging, I don’t mean it to. Obviously, electing Obama is a step in the right direction. Americans deserve approximately half the praise they’ve been heaping on themselves because, after all, Obama is half-African-American. But nearly all the so-called “black” people that now enjoy high-profile positions in America -- Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Tiger Woods, Tyra Banks, Beyonce -- are at the light-skinned end of the spectrum. It is almost as if America lined up every citizen with any African-American blood, putting the darkest at one end and the lightest at the other, and said to all the people on the far right-hand-side, “Okay, you can sit at the front of the bus, but the rest of you, stay in the back.”

If I was a caramel-coloured American, I’d certainly be pleased that Obama had been elected. It proves that white people are prepared to embrace light-skinned men of colour. But I would probably know that already. If I was a dark-skinned American, on the other hand, I’m not sure I’d take much comfort from this. It would simply confirm something I have long known, namely, that the extent to which African-Americans are the victims of racist discrimination in America depends, to a very large extent, on how dark-skinned they are. White Americans have finally come around to the idea of having a coffee-coloured President. Great. But when are they going to stop discriminating against people who are actually black?"

[chubz90]

Eriny i sort of get what your saying... i think. The way i see it is that Americans that may have not voted for obama voted for him as a means to justify their own sense of political correctness or somthing like that. By choosing a black president they are making some sort of statment, well i think anyway.

@Bubbles- i know he is mixed, part white, part black and i hear also part muslim and part catholic.

But what i hated was the way that 'Oprah', you know that over bloated rich cow went on and publicly began to rally supporters, i think it is an abuse of her position- she never did that to any other 'white' candidate in the past. Can anyone else sense the division, she is racist herself in supporting only her own kind, so to speak.? . But ehh... its America, nuff said.

[brendan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_firsts