This evening, flipped on my TV to check in on the race, hoping to watch the narrow margins that Hillary Clinton might (or might not) edge out Barack Obama, but instead she was able to pull a majority of Kentucky to her side. Why? Barack Obama is an African-American.
According to CNN, among exit voters in Kentucky who voted for Hillary Clinton, 21% stated because Barack Obama is black. I can’t fathom the sheer ignorance and lack of diversity those voters had. Exit polls aren’t anonymous like a phone call or an online survey; they are in-your-face-tell-me-what-you-think kind of survey. If 21% of Clinton voters are racist, likely there’s another 15% who are cowards in the shadows too afraid to admit their inadequacies to the media.
I thought at first, maybe CNN was coincidentally placing themselves into the least educated parts of the state. Eventually, I decided to browse the Web and discover the truth for myself. (No, I’m not trying to placate, “If it’s on the Internet, it must be true” non-sense, I just wanted to validate their findings.)
There was a very moving and uncensored video published by The Real News Network, that describe the deep racist virtues and misconceptions that West Virginia voters had around the time for their polls. One of the best examples of racism was when a Caucasian female eludes to the prejudice that Hillary Clinton or John McCain are more capable of singing the Star Spangled Banner and expressing more patriotism because they are White.
I think we’re just on the cusp of another racial Armageddon. No, I don’t mean a Civil War, I mean a deeper, an unwritten/unspoken divide among voters, politicians, religions, and the American people.
You’d think after about eight years with President Bush, people would eventually muster up enough courage and strength to defy their inner racist characteristics, and vote with some volume of intelligence and knock back the dial for self-righteous inadequacies. It’s easy to say that Bush is an idiot, but it’s even easier to plead ignorance when this country is lead into another series of energy, financial and military disasters.
The media is far from escaping my critique. I am sickened from hearing the same references made to the demographic, “White Working Voters.” This implies that you segregated the statistics between “White Non-Working, White Working, Black Working, Black Non-Working, Latino Working, Latino Non-Working,” voters. What ever happened to “Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Upper Middle Class and Upper Class?” Please, in the best interest of our country, stop regurgitating the same racial garbage that you criticize others about.
CNN is no better or worse than FOX News when Wolf Blitzer repeatedly refers to “White Working Voters”; compared to when FOX repeatedly played the same forty-second Rev. Wright Sound Bites for three solid hours. If the media expects the level of political candor increase, the bipartisanship to increase and fair campaign tactics to be adopted by the candidates, they must also raise the level of editorial standards themselves.
It is a complete shame to the media conglomerates and equally a travesty to the virtues and passions of all journalists who are supposed to report the news equally, fairly and ethically when the television media and various radio pundits continue to blast the candidates for their late-night-coffee-induced speeches instead of the shallow and ignorant voters who think they are independent thinkers when they vote with their eyes and not their cerebrum.
I want to know what makes us so racist against each other? I really wish I knew. Let me be a little transparent here — we are all different. Just as I could say “‘Cause he’s Black, Mexican or White,” there is a little thing called context. I don’t deny that different races and nationalities may be pigeonholed into different cultural and socioeconomic challenges in this country; but to me, anyone can break past gender, ethnic and cultural barriers. Often, White people are characterized as oppressors and imperialists, which I’m certainly not one, but I don’t deny the general association that people have. Black people are often characterized (and even glamorized) as criminals and athletic superstars. Latinos are often associated with day labor and Illegal Immigration. And we can’t forget Middle Eastern people, as they are usually labeled as terrorists.
Now, just because I describe these racial divides and characterizations, am I racist? No, I just acknowledge the inherent differences that we all have and we all need to dislike some group. This pathetic form of validation becomes realization when people make decisions based on it. I usually joke around in my clique, that “I hate everyone equally” as a great colloquial method of saying, “I can make a joke based on race, because it’s has humor as the context.”
I will briefly contradict myself here and say that I can accept that people can think for themselves and if they want to further America into the downward spiral that it is with regard to education and higher thought, let them. But please, don’t vote. Cling to your guns and clean the barrels, cling to your Bible and read a verse or two, cling to your pickups and install a 8″ lift on it. But, please don’t vote.
In an attempt to answer the question I asked in the title, “It’s 2008, are Americans still racist?” The unfortunate answer is Yes. Much like the Palestinians hate the Israelis, the Sunnis hate the Shiites, and the New York Yankees hate the Boston Red Sox — we all have to hate a person, a group or a even a whole religion.
I want Hillary Clinton to make a statement in response to the spike of racists as discovered in polls, something like this — and she can even be passive about it, too:
It has been discovered that a number of Americans who voted for me were doing so in the interest of race or ethnic background. I am deeply disappointed and I want it to be clear, that I intend to win this political campaign only based on my character, my plans for America, my <go into a platform recap>. I want to respectfully ask to those voters who voted for me on the grounds of race, to please reconsider their decision and research the issues that matter to them. It does not matter if I’m a man or woman, young or old, or black or white — the president of the United States of America must be picked on their platform and experience among other similar qualities, and not by their physical characteristics.
The truth is though, no matter what she says, it won’t have enough edge on it to break through the walls of prejudice in this country. People turn a deaf ear and a blind eye whenever there is a positive change to the morality of a person; but whenever there’s a racist remark, a PR gaffe or momentary lapse of judgment; people are quick to chastise and let their curiosity and inhibitions get the better of them and conclude lasting impressions from innocent mistakes.
No candidate is perfect, I know that, everyone has their rough edges. But is it too difficult to invest ten minutes of research about the issues a person stands for before casting a ballot that can potentially have the effect of four to eight years?
I deeply apologize for this lengthy diatribe of regarding politics and racism in America. I just want us to elect a competent, capable and diplomatic president without influence of race or background. It pains me to see the media pour alcohol and salt onto the open racial wound in America.
Trust me when I say I intend to direct my passion and vigor in my entry here into positive and constructive energy change for America.
Can’t we just grab a beer and get along?
