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Obama speaking in Milwaukee earlier this year. |
 | By Trenni Kusnierek  Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Trenni Kusnierek |
| Published Aug. 29, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. |
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Thursday marked a historic day in our country's history. For the first time since our young nation's inception, a black man, Barack Obama, accepted the Democratic party's presidential nomination. What follows will determine just how far we have come as a nation.
Let's face it, there is no way to avoid the race issue leading up to the November election. I'm just hoping it does not become the key issue.
In the Aug. 24 edition of the Detroit Free Press a local poll was released focusing on four questions about Obama. The first three focused on issues such as his affiliation with a controversial Chicago pastor, whether or not Obama's words and ideas are inspirational, and the comfort level citizens have with Obama as a person.
The fourth and final question is the most alarming.
The last question asked if people agreed with the statement that "there are people who want to hurt Barack Obama because of his race and sometimes I fear for his safety."
The answer was somewhat unsettling; 57 percent of respondents are worried about Obama's well-being.
Three days later a story appeared on page A16 of The New York Times (Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008) about three Denver area men arrested for possession of methamphetamine and two on weapons charges. At the time of the arrest, the men went off on racist rants and an alleged plot to assassinate Obama based on his race. Further investigation lead prosecutors to believe there was not a credible threat to Obama, but all three suspects were believed to have ties to white supremacy groups.
The Times article continued to point out that security at the Thursday rally would be "extra heavy."
Race will definitely be front and center the next few months. The disappointing reality is that a racist view of Obama is not limited to white supremacists.
In a casual political conversation while tailgating just a few days ago, two subjects came up. One, the issue of Obama's "true" religion; two, a possible debate between Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.
A friend of mine (who is a tried and true Republican and college "educated") began imitating Mrs. Obama using faux ebonics as his dialect of choice. I was outraged. I challenged him by pointing out his racist act. His answer: "I'm not racist. I have a black friend."
Wow! Will someone please call the committee for the Nobel Peace Prize? Throw in a gay and Muslim friend and suddenly you're the trifecta of tolerance.
This same friend has pointed out a number of times that Obama is actually a Muslim in hiding and will hand over the United States to the Middle East the first chance he gets. I'd like to call him ignorant, but that would give the guy a cop out of stupidity. He's not stupid, just intolerant.
I use one friend as an example, but evidence of using race as a measuring stick are everywhere. My taxi driver in Las Vegas (an Italian immigrant from Rome) shamed me when I said Obama is my president elect of choice. The older gentleman proceeded to ask me if I had any idea of what "the blacks" had done to Africa, and how I'd feel when we are all living like Africans in a few years.
Log on to the political blogosphere and read entries of our country going to hell in a hand basket if we vote for a guy with Hussein as a middle name. This saddens me beyond applicable words.
We are a nation that supposedly prides ourselves on diversity and tolerance of difference. Our ancestors endured arduous travel and incomprehensible tragedy to make the United States a melting pot and a place to live out dreams. It's tragic how quick we are to squash the dream of a man who is a shade darker and grew up a little bit differently than the rest of us.
I'm not asking anyone to vote for Barack Obama. Each person's political choices are extremely personal. Some of us vote with a dedication to conservative consciousness; others with an eye on Wall Street, and more still with the ideals of the '60s counter culture.
In my idealistic mind, I'm hoping for an election process that is educated and informed.
One where the issues; the economy, education, health care, women's rights, foreign relations and the military (especially proper treatment of our veterans) are front and center. I dread another argument that is predicated on someone's color or supposed non-Christian religious affiliation. We are smarter than that, and hopefully more tolerant.
I listen to Chicago Public Radio's "This American Life" a lot when I run. This past weekend's installment was about judging people based on superficial assumptions and qualities. One of the regular contributors, Shalom Auslander, perfectly verbalizes the ridiculous act of assessing character based on race:
"That's why I find racism so curious. There are so many reasons to dislike people, you're going to go with color?"
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13 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by Skeffert on Sept. 3, 2008 at 3:17 p.m. (report)
What's with the photo? Looks way photoshopped. Like somebody with rudimenary skills clipped our Barry out of another photo and slapped him onto this weird-looking crowd. It's like he doesn't belong ... like he's otherworldly ... maybe, like the photo itself is a commentary on race. A-ha!
| Rate this: |
Posted by mkelover on Aug. 30, 2008 at 8:55 p.m. (report)
Since we all seem to be brutally honest...let's just get it out there and say what a lot of people seem to be dancing around...Republicans are racist. There, does that feel better? Not only is the author hinting at this but so are talkbackers, so let's just call it like it is.
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Posted by Hckyboy00 on Aug. 30, 2008 at 5:08 a.m. (report)
Boy, god forbid somebody step out of the box to write something minimally thought provoking. It's amazing that everyone who doesn't agree with her tells her to stick to baseball, and the rest just say "wow, way to actually say something other than post game interviews." I also love how people will spout for eons from their soapbox about how they are not judgemental people, but then tell a journalist to look in the mirror, because obviously every journalist is left wing commie hippie tree-hugging trash. Why is it the fault of nearly every republican on the defensive to mistake an editorial for a article? This was a editorial piece, about the possibility, or lack there of, of people voting on the issues in November, and not about race. I highly doubt anybody has read more than a headline on voting tendencies in the last 30 years, the two groups of people who vote the least are young people, and blacks. So to even presume, as one of you do, that blacks are all of a sudden going to come out en masse and vote for "bama" as another called him, instead of "ohn" is an inept connection at the very least. Read a second article and you will find out that those two groups, when they do vote, vote overwhelmingly on the democratic side of the spectrum, so why is it all of a sudden racist, when a black man represents the views of many many black people? If Alan Keyes got the nomination in 2000, i wouldn't have voted against him because i am white and he is black, but because he was republican, and i am a democrat. And the stat she brings up is alarming, but is nothing new, during the primary season in Milwaukee, i vividly recall one black voter saying she'd not vote for Obama because she was afraid he'd be assassinated if he were ever elected. And since when has military service ever been a pre-req to the office of President? Do we really need to rehash the issues of previous candidates and their military experience, or lack there of? The last military general elected to office was in 1952, and he got you into the war that you served in! We Like Ike indeed. Being a admitted racist is not serving your country, whatever shade of rose glasses you have on, it's actually against every civil rights stride, minorities or women have made in the last 60 years. If you are voting for McCain simply because he served, you might want to do some research into how he plans to "help" veterans, i'm not going to tell you where to look, or how to do it, but do yourself the favor, since it seems very much in your interest to do it. This editorial lays it out like it is, she is asking you to vote on the issues, not rae, and is pointing out that voting based on simply skin color is ignorant and intolerant....which it is. McCain isn't running on the "whites" ticket, and Obama isn't running on the "coloreds" ticket, so it fits best if you as a voter don't perceive it as such.
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Posted by mr.woody on Aug. 30, 2008 at 2:06 a.m. (report)
you say my right to vote is mine yet you would have me to use your way of thinking to decide who to vote for. I served in southeast asia in '66 to '68. I am proud of my country, I've been disabled since khe san. I know bama didn't serve and his woman is ashamed of my country. I will not vote for bama and it is because of race. Never voted for the GOP before but will come november.I am not ashamed of that. In fact I'm more ashamed of being forced to vote for the GOP than not wanting my country to go like all the cities has ie. detriot, atlanta, d.c., chicago, and to my utter dismay Milwaukee. I was in wood wis. for two years and stayed on after my discharge for 18 yr.s. I left like all the rest because of the crime. Again I am proud of the USA, served her and I think I'm serving her again by not voting for bama!!!
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Posted by Gomez on Aug. 29, 2008 at 4:12 p.m. (report)
Black, white, or purple; it doesn't matter. Obama's tax plan is atrocious, his experience is a joke, his foreign policy amounts to a 3-day vacation in Iraq and he is completely ill-prepared to lead this country. Fact. Be careful announcing which side of the voting plate you bat on, Trenni. I don't see Bill, Craig, Brian, Davey or Jeff spouting off their political views. Last checked, Rillo's Rant doesn't contain politics. Stick with baseball until you work for CNN where you can revel in your leftist views.
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Show me the other 8 Talkbacks
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