why shouldn’t race help obama win?
by Aaron Rodriguez
Published: June 23, 2008
It has recently come to my attention that I’m a racist. I wasn’t aware of any latent racial prejudices that I possessed until someone called me a racist for supporting Barack Obama. It turns out that supporting Obama because of his race is just as bad as not supporting him for the same reason. Of course, I’m still having trouble wrapping my brain around why this is so. Apparently, Armstrong Williams and other black conservatives are wrestling with this problem as well. While under normal circumstances I’d never want to be grouped in with Williams or his ilk, I can sympathize with their conflict. Actually, strike that. There shouldn’t be any conflict because black people letting race factor in to their decision isn’t racist in the least.
The racism argument is perfectly understandable. In a country that is supposedly working towards race neutrality, it makes sense that citizens should put any notions of race behind them in an effort to move forward. As it stands, we are supposed to ignore race and focus on the characters of individuals. This sentiment is all well and good, but this election cycle is an exception. There is a great deal of confusion when it comes to defining what qualifies as racism.
The simplest solution (and the one that is the most prevalent throughout the country) is to mark any use of race as a deciding factor as racist. Obviously, hate crimes are based in racism, but so are more mundane things like picking the black kid to be on a team because he looks like a strong power forward. It is in the latter category that things begin to get murky, and it is understandable that we try to avoid the slippery slope of prejudice (good or bad) at all costs. That being said, we need to adjust our colorblind spectacles and look at this election in a different light.
I would expect an outcry from some white voters if, say, the average black voter were voting for Barack Obama because John McCain is a white devil. That right there is racist. Assuming that Barack Obama is some how biologically superior to John McCain because he’s black is an illegitimate and flat-out racist reason for voting. But if we look at history, we see that the opposite has been the case when it comes to electing officials. While there are no legal stipulations regarding race and gender when it comes to the presidency, it has long been assumed that one must be white and male to be president. There have been numerous minorities and women that were more than qualified to serve as president, but the likelihood of them even thinking about being president was barred by their race or gender.
One would think that each election comes down to deciding who is more fit to lead, but is anyone going to contend that in the 1950’s voters would not have considered an African American qualified even if he had more experience and wisdom than any of the white candidates? There has always been this assumption that white men are somehow more capable when it comes to being leaders and as such the presidency has never been an equal-opportunity occupation. This assumption is inherently racist because it assumes the inferiority of women and minorities.
The difference between believing that only white men are qualified to be president and voting for Barack Obama because he’s black is that the latter has nothing to do with racial superiority. I don’t think anyone is voting for Obama because they somehow think that black men are naturally better equipped for the presidency. Of course, there are those who believe that voting for Obama based on his race perpetuates a system of racialism regardless of their purposes. Such people firmly believe in the concept of color blindness, and while this is a noble goal, I don’t think the logic translates in this election.
Black voters have had numerous opportunities to vote for white men less qualified than Obama simply because it was unlikely that they’d ever get to vote for an African American. This may be the one chance that many African Americans have to see a black man achieve something that even a few years ago seemed like an impossibility. To ask African Americans not to hope for such a feat when we still live in a racially charged society is patently ridiculous. Electing Barack Obama achieves two goals on the race front: it promotes racial equality in America more so than every single legislative act in our country’s history and it serves as a symbolic shattering of many of the barriers to progress that plague African Americans.
Race has played a much larger part in American politics than most of us would like to believe, and most often this part has been a negative one for minorities. Why is it now, when race might actually serve a positive role for African Americans, that we want to do away with it?
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(11)
June 24th, 2008 at 7:17 am
The symbolic nature of the Obama candidacy is powerful. Obviously many blacks are going to take this opportunity to reverse years of prejudice by voting for Obama. My guess is that many whites will do the same for the same reason. But I’m not convinced that that’s a good thing.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
There’s no way that putting a black man in the White House is prejudiced. I root for the Lions every Thanksgiving and it’s not because I’m prejudiced. It’s because they always lose. I figure that by pulling for them I’m helping the downtrodden. I’m voting for Barack for the same reason. Minorities could use a hand in this country. And the most marginalized minority of all is the black male.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:57 am
If Obama loses I would like to continue this conversation with you in late November. I believe that will be about the time that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will be on every cable news channel talking about how racist the country still is. Completely overlooked in all of this is how many white dominant states Obama won (my home state of Iowa being one). Where I currently live a black man ran for senate in 2006. He dominated the debates and made the man he was running against look like a brainless child on state matters. Obama said race should not be a determining factor in electing Steel. Michael Steel is a Republican who would have done wonders for the state of Maryland and maybe with the support of Obama he might have won. But then Obama couldn’t use his line about being the only person of color in the senate had that happened.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
As you mentioned, race has always played a part in politics since the time more than one race could participate in political decisions. The difference in this presidential election is that there is more than one race represented in the candidacy. In past general elections for the Office of the President, race and ethnicity played a major role from the single standpoint of non-Caucasians who struggled with the decision to vote for the candidate who will do his/her race more good than harm. Now, the situation is three-fold: 1 - non-Caucasian who are also non-African Americans who will struggle with the decision to vote for the candidate who will do his/her race more good than harm; 2 - African Americans who will struggle voting for a candidate who is “one of us”; and Caucasians will struggle with voting for a candidate who is “not one of us”; and 3 - voters of all races and ethnicities who will struggle with voting for the candidate who will best lead the country (there are more of us out there than people realize). It will be interesting to see the outcome. All will play a part, but which one will have the most decisive role? Maybe all will.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
We have a system of equality. If you vote for race only, then you are saying racism is okay.The words”Libery and Justice for All” do not allow exceptions. The words”In God we Trust” can not be transformed into “In Our Race we Trust”. We must uphold values. I am African-American, but I do not vote for anyone who is African-American, I vote for the person who has values and beliefs as I do. Just because of the rarity, does not mean we harm our own integrity.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Nathan, I’m white. And I have always voted for a white guy in November. It’s such a boring selection process. This time, I’m voting for the black guy. Why? Because he’s black. Freak, when am I gonna get another chance to do that?
August 8th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Hey….I am a white dude,….and I don’t like the white guys party of Bush…so I am gonna vote for Obama,,,however if Clinton was to run….that would be problematic cause I am a male….. did i mention that like Ron Paul…
August 9th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I suppose that my issue with the original article is that in my opinioin, votingfor any candidate because of any one, single issue is a mistake. I don’t care if it’s race, sex, religion, or even stance on a single issue, say abortion. If you put on the blinders, drink the Kool-Aid (r) and pull the lever, because of a single issue, you are really rolling the dice on everything else.