Racism haunts Obama

HyperHulk, I just looked at your profile and noticed you are currently in Australia. Did you ever live in the United States?

The experience of being a black person in America is probably vastly different than that of a black person in Oz, England or Turkey. My point is, I know every country has racism, but it exhibits itself differently in different countries.

it's plain and simple. some people have their minds made up about a black person before he/she speaks. media has taught us that the black man is a robber, thief, racist, drug-addict, murderer. actually statistically, white boys commit MORE crimes than young black boys, are more prone to drug use, drug-related and violent crimes. however, they're less likely to be imprisoned for those crimes (even though they commit more) than young black boys. turn on the news and who's the criminal? often a black person. it's easy for someone who hasn't experienced or doesn't feel racist to deny that it exists, but facts prove that it's alive, well, and kicking (google hate crime statistics). the fact that he once WAS affiliated with muslim actually scares people. i was on another forum where damn-near the entire thread insists that the entire religion of muslim is based on the violent, terrorist acts of a few. once again, thank the media for this that IGNORES the 76% of the world's serial killers live in the US, and are most often young white males. we simply have a tendency to see the worst in other races, while often ignoring the worst of our own. i'm not slamming anybody else, but blacks represent the largest number of prisoners, even though in most areas we commit less crimes.

Also, let's keep in mind that many people don't fundamentally vote with a sense of objectivity - balancing out the pros and cons of the candidates based on a rubric of a candidate's platform. Many people who enter the polling booth, when asked to choose a candidate, ultimately vote for the candidate with whom they identify the most.

... Those (White) people who voted Republican in 1996 to 2004, I believe, voted erroneously. They labored under the false belief that the Doles/Bush/Cheneys of the world represented their interest only because older White males represent the figure of authority. They didn't understand that the Doles/Bushes/Cheneys did not represent their interests socially nor economically. People are now starting to figure it out.


People will vote for Obama the more his words and policies start to sound "true" to the masses. One major reason why Obama's appeal has grown is that he was one of the few people to oppose the war from the Iraq very beginning, back in 2003. It took the rest of the nation 4 years and $4 trillion added to the national debt to figure out that Obama's judgment was correct!

Well that's clear but there has to be more. What I'm wondering, and I don't think you could answer this, is what does that color of skin mean?

Maybe I'm not making this understandable enough? Here's what I would like to ask the people that hate Obama so much--imagine the person you most admire in the world--the one person you respect above all others--if that person was exactly the same, except their skin was Black, would you still admire them? If they said yes, then I would want to know what they have against Obama for being Black. If they said no, then I would want to know how someone's skin tone changes them? What does being Black really mean to someone?

a lot of hype...here's Jon Stewart breaking down the "muslim" connection and laughing at them for the 1/2-assed observation.

Wait for it .. the part that goes "This, is, Huge!"

I love Jon Stewart.

Obama's middle is from his african father, Barack Hussein Obama (Sr.).

His parents divorced.

But his mother remarried an Indonesian man in Hawaii and lived in Indonesia for 4 years (from the time he was 4-8) until his mother divorced his step-father. Indonesia has a huge muslim population. That's the connection. (stunning, no?)

Last year Jan, 2007 - Foxnews ran this "muslim" upbringing, before Obama announced his candidacy. They even made it more ominous - saying he attended a muslim school, a "Madrassa" (don't ask me if I spelled it right). The hype is that "Madrassa" is Arabic for "school." *oooh* spooky. Foxnews then went on to forever referred to it as "Obama's Madrassa past" that Obama was raised as Muslim is "HUGE."

Ofcourse Foxnews didn't look at the school. So CNN went to that elementary Madrassa (school) in Indonesia. It was an ordinary secular school where teachers the wore western dress and boys and girls played on the same playground.

NJQT--it'd be great if you didn't presume that I was an idiot. I'm trying to get to a deeper understanding of something that seems primal--this deep hatred of the one person I can imagine who has achieved this level of prominence who should defy all conventional racist beliefs and stereotypes.

I'm African-American, I grew up in the US my whole life except for the last couple of years and I have more formal education than 99.9% of the population. And yes, I'm struggling to understand something that seems inexplicable but is very real.

Hate doesn't exist in a vacuum. When you hate something, you have reasons. I'm trying to learn what those specific reasons are. Maybe I won't get anyone who can articulate their hatred beyond, he's Black and that's enough. I'm hoping someone can.

the hatred against people of different backgrounds seems mostly rooted in ignorance. you believe the worst of that group because that's usually what the media will portray. plus some of it is nurture. i knew kids in high-school that were racist simply because their parents were.

I thought I WAS hung.... and I am a black man...hmmm connection?>

This is part of what I'm trying to grasp. Obama clearly isn't any of these things. He doesn't fit any racial stereotype ever associated with Black people--he's not a violent criminal, he's not a religious civil rights protester, or even the successful Black guy who marries a White woman. He's the Tiger Woods/Michael Jordan of the political world and still people hate him. This I'm trying to understand.

Madrasa is the Arabic word for school, and in all fairness, the school could have been one that offered koranic study. However, four years in childhood means little - the way some spin Obama and Islam makes it seem like he is a Muslim Manchurian candidate.

a major necessity of racism or bigotry is to COMPLETELY ignore accomplishments of the group you're biased against. if the people who slam blacks and muslims stopped using inventions by those groups, their lives would be much more difficult. once again, racism isn't rooted in an intelligent or accurate idealogy, it's simple-minded in it's belief that an entire group acts/behaves/thinks/etc... a certain way. there is often little logic and very few facts involved. i've noticed that in most forums, when i begin posting statistics that disprove ignorant ideas, the conversation either ends, reverts to personal attacks, or continues with opinions that have already been proven incorrect.

I actually think people voted for Bush and co because of 9/11. 9/11 was so tragic on so many levels that most people had post-traumatic stress syndrome and simply wanted protection or a sense of security from that nightmare ever happening again. Rove managed to create a message that simply had Bush as trying to protect the US by any means necessary. That was enough for most people. That's why there was a code orange every 2 weeks leading up to the second election--build the fear and have Bush play tough guy sheriff. No one believed that Kerry would protect them. Fear won out.

How true..I doubt that the experiences of a white male in Australia would be even close to a black man in America. But then again, just ask the aboriginal people about racism. Oh and BTW...I am a black man...( I know..i don't look it)...and I hope Obama doesnt get elected because I'm afraid of what will happen if he does and the rednecks (or the powers that be) try to harm him. It could start a very serious problem in this country if that happens. Personally, i think that most Americans really think he can change things ..but thats the problem...the powers that be...don't wan't change they want to maintian the Status Quo.

But you have to hand it to them, somehow they've managed to attack Obama for being under the influence of his christian pastor for the last 20 years and being a covert Muslim--at the same time!!!! And people have bought it. If you put that in a movie, no one would believe it.

Everyone has interesting and valid things to say about this, especially HotBulge & njqt466.

Although I don't think racism is as much of a problem as it was back in the 50s and 60s, it's still a factor in everyday life. Obama is destined to receive opposition from those with this archaic ideals and beliefs about people who are different from themselves. And as marleyisalegend pointed out, it makes things even more difficult when press outlets protray certain races with a negative bias, whether it be direct or indirect. It'll be a major test for Obama to see if he can win over some of the states where this bias towards black people runs the strongest if he does secures the nomination.

Obama has won these states in the primary: Alaska , Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas (caucus), Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

16 out of 28, or 57% of these victories are in states that voted for the Republican Candidate at least 4 out of the last 5 presidential elections. The big states that usually go Democratic went to Clinton. If racism remains a major issue for Obama, then this can spell trouble for him in November.