Obama wins the election
A year and a half ago, a student of mine, Alex, was talking politics with me before class. The primary season was in it's infancy and he asked me what I thought of Barack Obama's chances. My response: "America is not ready for a black president".
At the time, and even as recently as 2 months ago, I didn't think the country was ready.
The Bay Area, in my opinion, lives in a kind of liberal vacuum, where too many people think everyone thinks like them. It's kind of a liberal closed-mindedness that occasionally drives me crazy. In 2004, a student came into my office, distraught that Kerry had lost; "Everyone I know voted for him, how could he have lost." I thought that was a somewhat bizarre, and closed-minded, thing to say.
Living in Michigan, I experienced racism, and to a lesser degree, I experienced racism living in Baltimore. I've been called a nigger to my face, been told that I would be unwelcome (and would run the threat of being attacked) in the town of a "friend", who then proceeded to invite me to his house for Thanksgiving - I declined. My experiences are what led to my response to Alex's question a year and a half ago.
How could America be ready for a black president when college educated Michiganders talk to their peers that way? How could America be ready for a black president with the events like Katrina, the Jena 6, and other events still happen in the supposed land of the free?
I voted for Obama and relate to him in a way many don't; we both have one white parent and one African parent. We are both African-Americans in its truest definition.
I still have this fear though, that the country might not be ready. I hope that I have been proven wrong.
At the time, and even as recently as 2 months ago, I didn't think the country was ready.
The Bay Area, in my opinion, lives in a kind of liberal vacuum, where too many people think everyone thinks like them. It's kind of a liberal closed-mindedness that occasionally drives me crazy. In 2004, a student came into my office, distraught that Kerry had lost; "Everyone I know voted for him, how could he have lost." I thought that was a somewhat bizarre, and closed-minded, thing to say.
Living in Michigan, I experienced racism, and to a lesser degree, I experienced racism living in Baltimore. I've been called a nigger to my face, been told that I would be unwelcome (and would run the threat of being attacked) in the town of a "friend", who then proceeded to invite me to his house for Thanksgiving - I declined. My experiences are what led to my response to Alex's question a year and a half ago.
How could America be ready for a black president when college educated Michiganders talk to their peers that way? How could America be ready for a black president with the events like Katrina, the Jena 6, and other events still happen in the supposed land of the free?
I voted for Obama and relate to him in a way many don't; we both have one white parent and one African parent. We are both African-Americans in its truest definition.
I still have this fear though, that the country might not be ready. I hope that I have been proven wrong.
posted by Jefferson at 9:50 PM
1 Comments:
weirdest thing jefferson, i haven't been checking up on the "blogs" at all, but i checked this specifically to see your reaction to the obama win, completely remembering your dismissal of his chances. what a weird election season, and it just intensified in weirdness towards the end. somehow the dude did it. it has been a week or so and i still haven't gotten over it. i hope mike cruzen isn't still angry about hillary.
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