Monday, April 21, 2008
Racism a Crucial Factor
According to an article on Politico, an AP-yahoo poll conducted April 2 through the 14 concluded that there are about eight percent of whites who would be “uncomfortable voting for a black person.” While this percentage was willing to admit this, I’m sure that there are many others who feel the same way, but who refuse to admit this because racism is something that is looked down upon and could create embarrassment for some admitting to this, which it should. The article also explains that the poll found there are fifteen percent of voters who think that Obama is a Muslim when he is in fact a Christian. It got me thinking as to how much this would affect Obama if he wins the democratic election. Those who fail to do the research and who believe Obama to be a Muslim could have negative impacts on his campaign. The article suggests, “thinking a person is Muslim probably does not encourage you to vote for him in America today.” Also, Obama would automatically lose out on votes due to the numbers of White Americans who have admitted that they would not vote for a Black man regardless of his experience or qualifications. While the poll conducted found eight percent to be “uncomfortable voting for a black person,” I’m sure this number must be even bigger. While this is unfair criteria to base votes on, it is reality and there are also many other voters who base their decisions on the wrong information and reasons. It is important that everyone vote, but I also think it is important that people make educated votes and who vote for the right reasons.
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3 comments:
It's unfortunate but true. No matter what we tell ourselves, it doesn't change the fact that race is still an issue. I wish we didn't have people who only see black and white but it's a reality and it would be idealistic to believe that Obama's race could not play a significant role in his run for the presidential nomination.
His candidacy should be based on his abilities as a leader, and his experience and character, not based on his race or religion, but this is not the way our country operates. We should only hope to be a generation that takes larger leaps in asserting ourselves as a united country and a united people.
I can't hate on the honesty of those 8 percent. I really can't. As advanced as we'd like to think we are (especially living in southern CA), there are still places in the country where people are perfectly ok to owning up to the fact that they won't vote for a black person or a woman.
I wish the poll would've asked how many people are voting for Obama partly so that they can say 'Hey, I'm not racist...I voted for Obama!' The poll also should have asked how many people are voting for Clinton partly so they can say 'Hey, I believe in gender equality, I voted for Clinton!' I can really see that becoming the new 'Hey, I'm not racist/sexist, I have ______ friends!'
I think it would be equally interesting to see some polling done on how many people would be unwilling to vote for Clinton as President because she is a woman. My parents have not provided a reason (whether because she’s a woman, because she is “rude,” because they didn’t like Bill, etc.) but they are both immediately react by saying “I would never vote for her and would consider moving somewhere else if she is President” any time that her name is mentioned. While racism is certainly engrained in many people throughout the country, the same is certainly true of gender roles. Reading reactions to when Hillary cried on websites reveals a bunch of comments like “you can’t run the country and cry” or “that’s a great way to deal with people like Sadaam Hussein—cry.” Obviously this reductionist logic is problematic but many people in American probably believe it.
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