Black Guy
My response to this blog post by Gealouxy, which I’ve this quote out of.
So, will everyone just shut up about him being the first black president? It doesn’t really look or sound good and it alienates everyone else. At the end of the day, the color of his skin will not matter.
I thought about this for a while. My conclusion is this: I don’t think anyone needs to “shut up” about him being the first black president. It’s an historic event, and it’s worth talking about, being happy about, and celebrating. In fact, intelligent people who did NOT vote for Obama, are disappointed he won, and disagree with his politics are ecstatic for what his win means for Civil Rights Movement.
It doesn’t look or sound “not good” to talk about it; on the contrary, it would be ridiculous to ignore it. I don’t see how it can alienate anyone (well, maybe those that hate Civil Rights… I’m not afraid of offending them.)
Of course, there needs to be a line drawn between two things: the historical event that is having the first black President and the presidency of Barack Obama, the man himself. I think most people find this easy to do. You can be thrilled at the first while simultaneously being devastated at the second, or you can be happy for both, like I am. Hey, you could even be a racist and hate that there’s a black man in the White House even though his political ideals align with your own.
I’m sad for everyone who voted for him JUST because of his skin color. That’s very unfortunate, but I don’t think it’s where most people are.
I’d like to think that people (at least most of them) voted for him because he represented a change we sorely need, and his forward thinking can help fix the problems we’ve gotten ourselves into as a nation.
Thanks for the post, I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion.
Rob Gokee
2 Dec 08 at 11:23 am
I agree with your opinionbut I don’t think you completely nailed the point of the post right on the head. Like I said, it’s a pretty historical event and definitely a big deal that we have a non-white president. Is it good for the civil rights movement? Absolutely. However, people seem to be so hang up on the color of his skin. I’m not talking about the majority of the people that voted for him - surely, there are a lot of smart people out there that thought things through before casting their vote (but we have to admit that there are those that voted because, well, they wanted to see a black president in office!). I’m talking about the people that think everyone that voted for him voted because he’s a novelty. They can’t see past the color and, because of it, they are missing the fact that, hey, this guys is actually smart and he made his way to where he is out of hard work, and not because family influences, etc…
I guess my point is, whether your for him or against him - why keep on talking about the color of his skin if it’s not what put him in office?
G.
2 Dec 08 at 7:54 pm