I believe much of the issue of race is perpetuated by the media. They are constantly making an issue out of it when no issue exists. Take the election for example. Throughout the campaign they would bring up race here and there, making it into an excuse for why he might not win, basically saying that Americans are racists. Then on election night when it was announced he won, their first thoughts were, "A black man has become president." They talked about what a proud moment it was for America to elect a black man. I don't think it even entered their minds that perhaps the American public wasn't thinking about race as any type of factor.
What they don't seem to understand is that they were the ones making it about race. It should have been about policy and it was in the media's hands to make that happen. Could you imagine what they would have said if Obama lost the election? If any group in America could be called racist, I would say it is the media.
AliciaO
· 12 months ago
On one hand we have this historic event: the first black president of the United States of America, which is clearly something that many Americans never thought they would see. On the other hand, the media, as you say, perpetuated racial divisions throughout the presidential campaign. How can Americans feel united when the media, and the presidential campaign teams merely divided us all up into groups that they could market the candidates to? Third parties don't really engage in this type of division; then again, maybe that's why the media tries to shut them down--they refuse to be a part of the nonsense and try to get to the root of the issues.
Then, as you say, the first sentence uttered or written about the presidency was the fact that Obama is the first black President. To me, that emphasis seems to downplay other aspects of his political career, views, campaign and victory.
One thing that both interested me and shocked me were the amount of articles out there that either questioned Obama's "blackness," gave him credit for his "blackness" or talked about how he wasn't "black" enough. Well...I mean he has the experience of having an African father, American mother and living in the U.S. and abroad in the context of being bi-racial. I'm sure he's had an interesting experience and didn't really need the media to capitalize on his identity struggles. But they can never make up their minds (the media)....one minute he's too white, one minute he's too black.
Clearly there are racists in America. After all, there is no way to rid the country of the legacies of slavery and racist government policies overnight. I just don't want to have to rationalize myself to others and prove I'm not racist, sexist or phobic of any particular group when I criticize an aspect of someone's views or character that have nothing to do with their race.
Finally, you say: "I don't think it even entered their minds that perhaps the American public wasn't thinking about race as any type of factor."
Well...while I think the media perpetuated many ideas and conflicts about race during this election, I also think that African-Americans and others in this country would have viewed Obama's presidency as symbolic regardless of the media stirring up the debate.
Andrew, you may remember that my family is originally from West Virginia. Watching the results election night with my dad, he attributed West Virginia's republican vote to be largely due to racism. West Virginia is a heavily democratic state, with the number of registered democrats to republicans nearly 2:1
This doesn't explain why WV voted for Bush twice, I just thought it was interesting that my dad was so quick to name racism as a factor this election's vote.
Andrew S.
· 12 months ago
Well, your father is in good company right now. Anyone that opposed Obama or has begun to oppose Obama on any grounds at all is accused of secretly being a racist. One great example of this is Bev Harris from blackboxvoting.org who used to be the darling of the left because she exposed vote fraud in 2000 and 2004 proving that the election was stolen by Bush. Well guess what, nobody wants to hear any of her evidence this year. The voting machines gave the "right" result so they must be fine after all. She's been labeled a racist despite her firm belief that Obama DID in fact win the election. It's not enough that she voted for Obama herself. It's also not enough that she's married to a black man. Where does it end?
By the way, your comment was off topic but I decided to answer it anyway. The article was claiming that blacks should look to the private sector to find real examples of success to which an average person can aspire. Also, my point was why not acknowledge the successes of blacks in government already? Blacks already had Supreme Court Justices, Senators, Congressmen and Congresswomen, Cabinet Members and more at the federal level, not to mention mayors and governors at the state and local levels. There are Supreme Court Justices, both white and black, that have done more to protect civil liberties in this country than any president. That's where the true hope lies. That's where my pride lies as an American, regardless of my skin color.
All Comments
What they don't seem to understand is that they were the ones making it about race. It should have been about policy and it was in the media's hands to make that happen. Could you imagine what they would have said if Obama lost the election? If any group in America could be called racist, I would say it is the media.
Then, as you say, the first sentence uttered or written about the presidency was the fact that Obama is the first black President. To me, that emphasis seems to downplay other aspects of his political career, views, campaign and victory.
One thing that both interested me and shocked me were the amount of articles out there that either questioned Obama's "blackness," gave him credit for his "blackness" or talked about how he wasn't "black" enough. Well...I mean he has the experience of having an African father, American mother and living in the U.S. and abroad in the context of being bi-racial. I'm sure he's had an interesting experience and didn't really need the media to capitalize on his identity struggles. But they can never make up their minds (the media)....one minute he's too white, one minute he's too black.
Clearly there are racists in America. After all, there is no way to rid the country of the legacies of slavery and racist government policies overnight. I just don't want to have to rationalize myself to others and prove I'm not racist, sexist or phobic of any particular group when I criticize an aspect of someone's views or character that have nothing to do with their race.
Finally, you say:
"I don't think it even entered their minds that perhaps the American public wasn't thinking about race as any type of factor."
Well...while I think the media perpetuated many ideas and conflicts about race during this election, I also think that African-Americans and others in this country would have viewed Obama's presidency as symbolic regardless of the media stirring up the debate.
Oh, actually, finally...I wrote an article a while back on this issue of the media and race...
Back in the summer I wrote an article on this: http://riseuprochester.org/2008/08/18/the-media...
http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/...
This doesn't explain why WV voted for Bush twice, I just thought it was interesting that my dad was so quick to name racism as a factor this election's vote.
By the way, your comment was off topic but I decided to answer it anyway. The article was claiming that blacks should look to the private sector to find real examples of success to which an average person can aspire. Also, my point was why not acknowledge the successes of blacks in government already? Blacks already had Supreme Court Justices, Senators, Congressmen and Congresswomen, Cabinet Members and more at the federal level, not to mention mayors and governors at the state and local levels. There are Supreme Court Justices, both white and black, that have done more to protect civil liberties in this country than any president. That's where the true hope lies. That's where my pride lies as an American, regardless of my skin color.