Cynthetiq

Are there really enough people who don't have bias or prejudice swimming in their heads and be willing to actually when behind the curtain pull the lever for Mr. Obama?

Personally I'm not a fan of biracial or other racial labels. The moment you identify yourself as anything other than American, you've created a divide. If you're asking about heritage, that's a different story, his heritage makes him partly black and partly white. Otherwise, he's just an American. Because that's what we all are. When someone asks me where I'm from I say, "I"m American." I can see the discomfort as they now have to figure out how to ask what my race is. Usually, they sheepishly fumble out, "No, I mean like where are you from?"

"Los Angeles," I reply.

Sometimes it is one of these, "No, your parents, where are they from? That's what I meant to ask..." or "What's your heritage?"

So here we are, someone finally pulled the race card on Mr. Obama. Is America really ready?

I don't think so.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Charlatan

And so it bubbles to the surface.

I really hope this doesn't escalate. My worry, especially in this financial "crisis", is that some whack-o will start taking shots at him. Assassination is not out of the question for some on the fringe.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Jozrael

A lot of the people I know are comparing solely the VPs in this race. They reason that McCain has better odds to die of natural causes and Obama has better odds to be assassinated.

Kind of saddening.

genuinegirly

That is so exceptionally messed up.


We have also seen this recently, with his wife:



These are the thoughts that run through my mind:





Aren't we beyond this?

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

grumpyolddude

I know many professed "liberals" and "progressives" who shake their head and state that they "can't vote for Obama." Some admit that it's racial. Some just mumble.

I'm trying my best to stick to the issues, and hope others can do the same.

__________________
"Regret can be a harder pill to swallow than failure .With failure you at least know you gave it a chance..." David Howard

Jozrael

I find it kind of sad that this race is so close. Discounting ANYTHING about each candidate, this should be a LANDSLIDE for the dems after 8 years of bush. It's only because of Obama's race, IMO, that it is this close. I'm not saying he's otherwise perfect, btw.

jorgelito

Cyn, the race card for Obama was pulled a long time ago. This is nothing new. Especially so close to election time it does not surprise me one but this would happen. It shouldn't be an issue because we have already had a black president. Plenty of whites voted for him then so plenty should vote for Obama now. Then again, voting based on race is pretty dumb anyways.

Personally, I think the race card is stupid. He's white, he's black. That's it. It should be neutralized. He will get some of the black vote and he will get some of the white vote. If Obama wins, he will be the second black president and the first Asian American one. Personally I think he's more white than black. It's only recently that more black folk have been embracing him. Before, he had a difficult time reaching out to blacks. But now with Oprah's endorsement, and many celebrities and athletes endorsing Obama, more and more have begun to support him. Obama has done well with the young, hip, popularity contest angle. Obama is prety much the "in" thing, the new "it" guy. I just hope he gets back to the issues soon.

__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter

ASU2003

I could see this happening in Alabama or Mississippi... but Oregon? I've never been to Oregon, but it's what I picture to be the perfect place in this messed up country. It's probably not realistic though. (No racism, little religion influence, outdoorsy people, pro-environment, anti-big corporations. happy people, open about sex,...)

Cynthetiq

really? as far as I'm concerned racism isn't a word of just negative connotation, it is just a word. Put into context like above it becomes negative, and no matter how they spin this Meet a Black Guy thread, it's still on the wrong side as far as I'm concerned.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/general...black-guy.html

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Neighn

You have to chalk this up to exactly what it is. One guy, doing one dumb thing, living one dumb life.

I think as a whole, we as a country are in fact past this, but, this person isn't.

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I know you because I see how you react in a consequence free environment.

bazkitcase5

thanks for stereotyping people from MS - I've lived here all my life and I know very few racist people

I've met more racist northerners than I have southerners and it gets kinda old

jewels

We've made much headway, but we're far from "past this". These stories come out quite often.
Sadly, we've got a long way to go.

Obama's color an issue? His parentage doesn't matter. There are whites that will call him "more white than black". There are blacks that think he's not black enough.

Those who've decided to vote for him won't have any problem pulling the lever to vote him in.

__________________
We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

jorgelito

Nicely said. This is the most sensible post so far. I agree..

__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter

shakran

Why? Are you suggesting that southern people are inherently racist, while northerners are not? Is that attitude not just as prejudiced as the racial prejudice that you claim to dislike?

jorgelito

I can attest and witness to northern liberals being very racist.

__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter

Charlatan

I can attest that racism is alive in all stripes of people. Your political beliefs do not automatically render you free of racism. Racism is a deep-seated issue. It is within us all to be racist. For anyone to claim to be 100% free of racism is a fallacy.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Cynthetiq

You know that was what I found amazing about Singapore. They touted tolerance for the different religions and races that lived in harmony. It was really special feeling initially. Until you started to realize that classes seemed to "work out" a particular way. Stereotypes, but some truth rooted there, Indians being guards, Malays being laborers, filipinos being housekeepers, Chinese being money handlers and business owners. You'd hear it in undertones and under breath.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Tully Mars

It's really hard to unlearn things learned at an early age from your parents. It's almost like putting toothpaste back in the tube.

__________________
I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Cynthetiq

great now i'm imagining trying to put aquafresh striped toothpaste back into the tube.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Tully Mars

Sounds a little stereo typical.

I lived in the pacific northwest for most of my life. Every openly racist person I met was a hard core, GOP voting, gun toting, conservative. And no, I'm saying every conservative was racist.

Maybe it's in the way you're defining racist?
-----Added 28/9/2008 at 08 : 33 : 49-----

It'll give you something to do on a windy Sunday afternoon.

__________________
I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

snowy

I'm not sure the incident at George Fox has anything to do with Obama; I'm pretty sure it has more to do with prejudice against non-white students on the George Fox campus, particularly those receiving Act Six scholarships. The mimicked hanging of Obama is meant to intimidate these students and make them feel unwelcome there, not necessarily to say anything about the election.

George Fox is an EXTREMELY conservative institution, perhaps one of the most conservative in the state. It is so conservative I have evangelical Christian friends from my university who transferred because it was so hard to deal with all the restrictions. Oregon is not all hippies, and George Fox is certainly representative of that piece of our population that isn't on that side of the dial.

Racist incidents aren't unheard of here, you know. Forest Grove (north of Newberg, where George Fox is) used to have an active chapter of the KKK. There used to be rampant segregation in parts of Portland prior to the Civil Rights era. Nowadays, most of what other people would construe as racism elsewhere simply stems from ignorance here; quite frankly, we are a very white state. Half of the state is occupied by xenophobic rednecks.

I'm sad to say that this doesn't surprise me in the least, especially given where it took place. And by the way, if you want a real treat, you should read some of the user commentary on the Oregonian's website, about how this is all some liberal conspiracy to make conservatives look bad.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Willravel

I suspect it's actually a conservative plot to frame liberals for trying to frame conservatives for the effigy, but it could be a lot more complex.

anti fishstick

I just saw this headline on The Oregonian. Of course, it had to be George Fox. I wasn't very surprised. But, I would hate for something like this to ruin the reputation of the college, because I'm sure it isn't representative of the campus as a whole...

Snowy,
I didn't know that about Forest Grove's history (or maybe I did, but forgot). I'm from there!

Oregon is very liberal, yes, but there are a lot of areas, particularly Eastern and Central, that are prety conservative. I see a bunch of Ron Paul signs everywhere, couple "Nobama" bumper stickers, etc. And, there is no such thing as a state without racism.

__________________
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~Anais Nin

abaya

Yeah, this doesn't surprise me, either. It's funny, I don't know why people see Oregon as a bastion of tolerance and hippie-ness... growing up in the Pac NW, I've always considered the rural parts of our area to be one of the most closed-minded. Eastern WA, hello! I would assume OR has the same clusters of racist population that we do up north, and certainly Idaho has its share. We might be fairly liberal up in that corner of the nation, but we're far, far, FAR from perfect. (Hard as that is to admit, lol.)

__________________
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for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

tisonlyi

"An act with racial undertones"

Would it have to be a traditional, actual-real-dead-corpse swinging from a branch before the message is a little stronger than 'undertones'?

How about "In a statement of outright racial hatred, echoing some of the worst violence wrought..." etc.

Really, call a tool with undertones of earth-moving what it really is.

Second thoughts, maybe it simply shouldn't have been given the oxygen of publicity at the moment. The last thing you want it some swell of a minority coalescing around an incident like this and claiming persecution of a man/group with an opinion.

__________________
"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." - Winston Churchill, 1937 --{ORLY?}--

roachboy

somehow, this only surprises me because it happened somewhere--it seems an almost inevitable consequence of the convergence of the populist right's long trafficking in a sense of petit bourgeois victimization--the entire "reverse discrimination" thing in particular--and the fact that the whiff of racism floats everywhere around this campaign season like a noxious cologne---there's a sense in which this has already happened, or is everywhere anywhere about to happen. and because it seems everywhere anywhere about to happen, it is of course wholly shocking to everyone in any particular place where it actually does happen that it did happen, perhaps because it is everywhere already implied.

i read somewhere that a polling company had determined the factor of 7% of the american population--so 7% of any random-ish sample--could be chocked up to racism, controlled for with a filter which designates those responses to come from racism. that seems pollyanna. but on the other hand, it seems that it is far more a problem to be seen as a racist than it is to be one, so perhaps this is a measure of the success in concealment.

either way, a remarkably stupid action.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

snowy

An update:

Four George Fox University students confess to hanging Obama in effigy - Breaking News From Oregon & Portland - Oregonlive.com

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Willravel

I'm almost disappointed it wasn't Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Arianna Huffington trying to frame conservatives.

Tully Mars

Regardless of the students' intent? Umm, ok. So they're implying the intent was something positive? Also like the part of the article where "These students were very sorry and deeply grieved by the impact of this event." Why do I feel they're sorry and "grieving" only because they got caught.

I'd say I'm surprised but given it's George Fox, I'm not. I worked with a guy in the late 80's had a sheepskin from GF. He was told you can't put DWB on tickets as a reason for pulling someone over. DWB is shorthand for driving while black. BTW- he wasn't told not to do it, just not to put it on the ticket. Gotta love rural USA.

__________________
I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

The Faba

... did i miss something?

Because I'm really confused...