We were making fun of some life-long Dems who voted against Obama because he's black.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

I have to add - we weren't purposefully making fun of them but we were laughing because we were more shocked and amazed than anything.

At our community pool in Florida I was talking to some older lady (Rosanne) who is a Democrat about Obama and was pleasantly surprised when she said she had voted for him and thought he would do a good job as President.

I asked this other woman who was sitting with us - who is a life-long Democrat from Chicago if her boyfriend was really serious about liking Sarah Palin. (He had been saying to me "Sarah! You have to vote for her" everytime I had seen him lately). I had assumed he was kidding around since he is a life-long Democrat and so is she.

She said "Well we both voted for her. McCain and Palin." Rosanne blurted out "You have got to be kidding me! Are you serious?? You're a Democrat and so is he." We all started laughing.

Then - Roseanne added "Oh that's right - you don't like blacks do you?" The Chicago lady said: "They are always in my face at work acting like they're better than me - giving me a hard time. It will just get worse."

I told her that in my opinion - that most people I knew were inspired by his being elected - including the black people that I knew and that it should make things better NOT worse. She answered "Maybe - I hope so."

We proceeded to talk about how intelligent and talented Obama was and sort of put her to shame.

[VeraAgnes]

1. So, like what is your point?

Is shaming a good thing for you to practice? Do you encourage your children to do the same?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

3. If someone is a racist - yes. We weren't trying to be mean - we were just incredulous.

If my kids were being racists or bullies - yes I would "shame" them because they are acting shameful.

[plaintiff]

20. Do you have anything to say to people who voted FOR him only because he's black?

I've met a bunch of them. It's all they knew about him.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[plaintiff]

22. Sorry, sweetie, I'm no freeper.

...

[gollygee]

15. We do not have to be sweet and nice and polite to bigots

If someone says a racist joke around you, are you also so careful to not make them feel ashamed? Bigots SHOULD feel ashamed.

[Kutjara]

2. I love translating "racialese" into English.

"They are always in my face at work acting like they're better than me - giving me a hard time." translates into "They seem to think they're just as good as me and refuse to say 'Yes'm and no'm'. They even get uppity when I call them 'boy.' The nerve!"

[Lilyeye]

4. LOL! You got that right.

[sui generis]

5. unfortunately there were plenty of people who voted for Obama

ONLY because he was black.

That's the same as voting for a candidate ONLY because he's white.

Some of them also voted against some people getting married ONLY because they are gay. And proudly call themselves democrats.

[xochi]

6. If we had historically had a proportionate number of black presidents,

then I'd agree. It's only the same if you ignore our racist history.

[sui generis]

11. just like roulette doesn't add up wins

neither do presidencies add up bigotry.

I stand 1000 percent behind my statement. It is the same. Voting for someone because of their skin color alone is racist, regardless of who does it.

[parasim]

8. Well, if Obama was white he probably would have won by a larger margin.

I think that those voting for him only because he is black is outnumbered by those that voted against him because he is black.

[sui generis]

12. but the point is that it betrays representative politics

voting for a leader because of their stance on issues and qualification is why we vote in a democracy. I give no quarter to racism of any kind, even the "benign" kind.

I voted for Obama because he was the right person for the job. I don't need to honor anyone else's reason, and quite frankly Obama would NOT have won if he had been a poor candidate.

There's the saving grace. He deserved to win because he spoke to America, and even some republicans voted AGAINST McCain, without regard to either candidate's skin color (actually, in Obama's case, cultural declaration).

[parasim]

14. I agree with you. I also voted for him because he is the right person for the job.

My point was that I think you might have overestimated the number of people voting for simply because he's black. I know some pretty racist folks who voted for him regardless of his skin color. They wanted the best guy in there and voted for him.

In the end, I think the number of people voting for or against Obama merely because of his race is relatively small compared to those voting him in simply because he was far and away the best candidate.

[xochi]

24. I don't think we disagree at heart, but people vote for a particular candidate

for a whole plethora of individual, personal reasons, not just on issues and qualifications. I feel sorry for someone who bases their vote on race, but I defend their right to vote however they please, for whatever reason they please. Isn't THAT the basis of our democracy? I can respect their having an opinion even if I disagree with it--even vehemently.

Race is such a complex and emotional issue; it isn't just a dogmatic, black-or-white (pun intended) matter. A few years ago, Japanese Americans who were incarcerated by their (our) government in concentration camps simply because of their race were compensated by the Clinton administration (I believe it was; I may be wrong) with a cash reward, which you could say was race-based. More to the point, affirmative action programs established to undo some of the injustices due to the systemic, institutional racism of the past have become controversial. Hawaii, which was an independent, sovereign monarchy, was illegally overthrown by a group of American businessmen, aided by the U.S. military. One of the monarchy's descendants set up a trust to fund programs (including a private school) for native Hawaiian people to ensure the health and preservation of native culture. Recently, they've been attacked for having "racist" (that is, race-based) policies, such as the school's admission policies.

Although I admit to doing this myself at times, especially when I'm emotionally worked up, indignant, etc., I believe it's too simplistic to dismiss someone with the derogatory "racist" label (with all its ugly connotations) without considering all the messy, painful, complex, historical realities that may underlie one's behavior, which some people do merely out of fear of being labelled oneself as such. In the end, we are ALL victims of hatred, racism, sexism, and violence, whether we're the perpetrator, the victim, or the bystander.

[aquart]

17. Oh, dear, is that the myth you're going with?

If Obama were white, we would be watching the transition of president-elect Hillary Clinton. No white man had a chance against the first woman president. Just as a woman had no chance against the first black president.

But tell yourself what you want.

[parasim]

25. And you can tell yourself what you want.

And then we'll all just be talking to ourselves.

Whatever... if it all really came down to "no white man against a woman" and "no woman against a black man" then there is no hope at all for this country.

That certainly is not how I voted, and i hope to God that is not how the country voted. But, I concede, perhaps I am just delusional in thinking that we are better than that.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

19. But those same people didn't vote for Jesse Jackson just because he was black.

Let's face it - Obama was a much better candidate who one could be proud of voting for.

[crim son]

7. Sounds to me that it isn't very difficult to be "better than"

the Chicago lady.

[JVS]

9. What a moran!

[NOLALady]

10. Whoa.

"acting like they're better than me"

That says a lot.

So, she thinks she's 'better' than those uppity blacks who just will not stay in their place. Scary lady.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

18. Instead of going off on her - I think it was better to just act sort of aghast at the whole thing.

Which - honestly we really were....

[Catherine Vincent]

13. "acting like they're better than me "

They probably are better than her (i.e. smarter) and she hates that.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

23. I said to her b-friend "Palin didn't even know that Africa was a continent" & he said he didn't also

so yes - you are right about that. I told him that I wanted a President who was smarter than I was - and that was how I chose my candidates.

[patrice]

16. "acting like they're better than me (sic)" This is not possible if she doesn't allow it by

thinking, defensively, that there is some plausible reason for others to think they are better than she. A person validly aware of his/her own self-worth is not vulnerable to others who might or might not be making the mistake of thinking they are better than others.