Racism within the Race Issue

[sohndrsmith]

(Edited to remove typos)

For anyone, of any political stripe, to be able to listen to Colin Powell's detailed, thorough, reasoned explanation of his endorsement of Obama (and his criticism of McCain) is - I'm sorry - an idiot.

Had Powell not given such succinct reasons for every issue that formed his decision, from the economy, the campaigns, temperament, judgment, competence and how each candidate behaves in the face of crises, then one might come to the assumption that it was "about race" a little more easily, but it still doesn't fly.

I think that there is something to a component of this election being "all about race", however, but Obama isn't the one invested in it.

I saw the video clip of a McCain supporter saying that Obama's administration would be filled with people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, etc. I've also heard and read comments elsewhere from people who are afraid that a black president would mean that "blacks would get all the advantages" and whites would lose advantages. Ironically, these people seem to have no problem with blacks being the ones to have the most disadvantages, and keeping it that way. A level playing field doesn't occur to them, maybe because they don't believe it is "right".

An exercise I have started doing has made me start to think about the racism of this election in more striking terms:

Look closely at the people behind both candidates and their running mates - whenever they speak. What sort of faces do you see? Nearly 100% of the time, the people behind McCain and Palin are white. Imagine if all, or nearly all, the people at Obama's rallies were exclusively black. Would anyone ignore that, as we seem to be doing with McCain? But with Obama's supporters: I have yet to see a single-race audience, and often it seems like there is more ethnic diversity than just black and white. McCain, not so much.

There are many, many more examples of this beyond what I bring up here, but things like this, and more obviously, statements made by people saying that Powell endorsed because he's black seem to me to be a clear indication that race is very much an issue to these people.... and that it is not a celebration of ethnic heritage, it is racism - against those who are non-white.

Unfortunately, the racial uniformity, when obvious, is inappropriately acceptable (ignored) when the people are white. There have been minimal challenges against it, and they're generally dismissed. More often, it just isn't an issue.

Am I the exception in thinking there is something concerning about the hypocrisy of the nearly all-one-race support of one candidate when it would be the ruin of the candidacy of the other candidate for the exact same thing?