How the Tables Have Turned
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The Table Has Turned.mp3
Remember the victory dance; Michael Berg celebrating after beating the living daylight out of truck driver Reginald Denny. Yeah, the tables have turned.
Any Way...
Relatively fresh of the press; WRAL News reports:
In the past month, Obama grew his lead among blacks by 15 percent and shrank Clinton's 20-point lead among whites to 7 percent. Obama garnered the support of 86 percent of blacks, and Clinton had 47 percent of whites in the April 3 poll. There did not appear to be a gender divide. Clinton and Obama drew support from men and woman proportional to their share in the overall poll.
(Source: WRAL News Poll - wral.com)
At a first glance you might miss the real story behind this story. No it is not the transcendent nature of Barack Obama and no; it is not the stalled Hillary Clinton Campaign. The real story here is to be found within the polls themselves. As an immigrant to this country I find myself often looking at race relations from an outside perspective. Quite often I observe, that when people speak in general terms about the journey that lies ahead in battling racism, they often mean (if not always mean) that white people need to do better on how they treat and perceive black people (notice I didn’t say minorities). In my humble opinion, the word minority is analogous to Blacks, African Americans if you will. Now I will grant that it may have been the case that White Americans had the longer road to travel in bridging the racial divide but to be sure both groups had some traveling to do. Getting back to the true story of these polls, the ones I read earlier, it would seem that white Americans have completed their journey or are very close to doing so. Black Americans however have not budge one iota and it would seem have even gone backwards. How do you explain that between two minority candidates with not lick of policy difference between them that Black Americans are so overwhelmingly behind Barack? Again it would make sense (in an uninformed logically convoluted way) if Hillary Clinton was say, a republican. In fact you will not hear Barack and Hillary debate policy differences, because there isn’t any between them. On the other hand, white Americans have found it quite natural to support Barack who by the way is a black man (in all the ways that matter). They support him even after his association with what I would call a White-people-hating pastor and his, “Typical white person” comment; she was only able to hold on to 48 percent of white voters for crying out loud. Indeed a new day has dawned on America and the battle for better race relations rages on but, no longer is it the case that Black Americans are the recipients of racial discrimination; they have become the source, at least according to these polls and the infamous Jeremiah Wright. To any Black person who would decry racism, I say to you, heal thy self.
Well I stand by my convictions and I’m pretty sure that if given serious consideration, you too will conclude as I did that indeed the table has turned on race relations. In my experience, just going about my life day to day, I have found that my theory holds true and that the indicia of the polling data certainly points to this sinister realty. Let that marinate in your thoughts for a while.
COPYRIGHT ©2008 POLITICAL AGENDA
The Table Has Turned.mp3
Remember the victory dance; Michael Berg celebrating after beating the living daylight out of truck driver Reginald Denny. Yeah, the tables have turned.
Any Way...
Relatively fresh of the press; WRAL News reports:
In the past month, Obama grew his lead among blacks by 15 percent and shrank Clinton's 20-point lead among whites to 7 percent. Obama garnered the support of 86 percent of blacks, and Clinton had 47 percent of whites in the April 3 poll. There did not appear to be a gender divide. Clinton and Obama drew support from men and woman proportional to their share in the overall poll.
(Source: WRAL News Poll - wral.com)
At a first glance you might miss the real story behind this story. No it is not the transcendent nature of Barack Obama and no; it is not the stalled Hillary Clinton Campaign. The real story here is to be found within the polls themselves. As an immigrant to this country I find myself often looking at race relations from an outside perspective. Quite often I observe, that when people speak in general terms about the journey that lies ahead in battling racism, they often mean (if not always mean) that white people need to do better on how they treat and perceive black people (notice I didn’t say minorities). In my humble opinion, the word minority is analogous to Blacks, African Americans if you will. Now I will grant that it may have been the case that White Americans had the longer road to travel in bridging the racial divide but to be sure both groups had some traveling to do. Getting back to the true story of these polls, the ones I read earlier, it would seem that white Americans have completed their journey or are very close to doing so. Black Americans however have not budge one iota and it would seem have even gone backwards. How do you explain that between two minority candidates with not lick of policy difference between them that Black Americans are so overwhelmingly behind Barack? Again it would make sense (in an uninformed logically convoluted way) if Hillary Clinton was say, a republican. In fact you will not hear Barack and Hillary debate policy differences, because there isn’t any between them. On the other hand, white Americans have found it quite natural to support Barack who by the way is a black man (in all the ways that matter). They support him even after his association with what I would call a White-people-hating pastor and his, “Typical white person” comment; she was only able to hold on to 48 percent of white voters for crying out loud. Indeed a new day has dawned on America and the battle for better race relations rages on but, no longer is it the case that Black Americans are the recipients of racial discrimination; they have become the source, at least according to these polls and the infamous Jeremiah Wright. To any Black person who would decry racism, I say to you, heal thy self.
Well I stand by my convictions and I’m pretty sure that if given serious consideration, you too will conclude as I did that indeed the table has turned on race relations. In my experience, just going about my life day to day, I have found that my theory holds true and that the indicia of the polling data certainly points to this sinister realty. Let that marinate in your thoughts for a while.
COPYRIGHT ©2008 POLITICAL AGENDA
posted by Danian Michael at
11:31 AM
8 Comments:
I'd like to take your latest discussion and remove it from the context of these polls which in the grand scheme of things mean absolutely nothing. Instead I'd like to put them in the perspective of today's present reality. It really doesn't matter who people are pretending to like when they get some random phone call or email or go online to say, "yeah I like Obama this week" - on the day to day in the real world - what do you have prevalent among our society? Racism. Is it merely black on white? Here's a direct quote from the KKK'S website - Rachel Pendergraft, the national spokeswoman for the organization said, "We pray for the day when we will see a strong candidate; a God fearing white man or woman, who will restore the principles of the Constitution." Sounds like to me the KKK wants someone of their racial persuasion in office as well. Go figure. The truth is most people of the same racial background will generally try to give their race the upper hand. Most of the time it is because of pride toward someone who is of the same racial background aspiring to gain a position that will affect change. The hope of the voter is that this individual will have their race's interest at heart. While you congratulate white America for great strides, I would challenge you to congratulate Black or African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans for having been oppressed economically, socially, and often even physically by a White American society for so long but never having raised up and destroyed the whole country out of anger and outrage. It's easy for a man who is stepping on someone to finally choose to stop stepping on him but it's hard for the man being stepped on to understand why the other man has been standing on him so long but never heeded his cries. I would suggest that most of Black America, just like every other American, is hoping to find someone who won't step on them.
Anonymous,
You said:
“I'd like to take your latest discussion and remove it from the context of these polls which in the grand scheme of things mean absolutely nothing.”
Well maybe you are right, but just saying the polls mean nothing, does not make it so. You are going to have to give me more than that. How can you say, who a person supports with their vote means absolutely nothing and by that I assume you mean it indicates nothing. If that is the case why is everyone so interested in the polls? You make this statement at the start of your response then spent the remainder of the time showing why my analysis is right. And you did so with statements like this, “Sounds like to me the KKK wants someone of their racial persuasion in office as well. Go figure. The truth is most people of the same racial background will generally try to give their race the upper hand.” For you to so cavalierly say that people in general support and try to give their race the upper hand, is to miss the point of the civil rights movement altogether. We want people to support and treat other people not by the indicia of skin color but by the content of their heart. Of course SOME people will tend to support their own race (there I agree with you) but it is wrong when it happens and I am saying that the overwhelming majority of people who do that sort of thing are Black Americans. Otherwise Barack Obama would be nowhere; think of where he would be if all the races supported their own. And using a marginalized group of outcast like the KKK to prove your point is a stretch don’t you think? Against your small group of KKK members I have 86 percent of black Democrats which is basically 86 percent of all Black Americans.
With all due respect Anonymous, you have only succeeded in showing why Black Americans have the right to discriminate base on race, but when is it ever okay to discriminate base on race, Black, White or Other?
Interesting comments Anonymous,hope you write again.
I supposed that you would see my comments in this light - and here's my counter. 1) The "polls" are not the voting booths. That's why in the small print they say +/- 5%, etc. They are a sample of possibly 1000 people and the mathematical projection based on that number - that's why I say it means nothing because people say anything on a survey but the moment of truth is on the day of voting - if you show up.
2) While you're calling the support of some Blacks for Barak Obama racism, it is the same love for self that makes a caucausian male hire one of his peers rather than an equally qualified individual of another race.
The travesty comes when this individual will pay a woman 30% less than her male counterpart. Or neglect the proper payment of minorities versus their white counterparts.
These negative drivers of race consideration are the same reason why it has been documented that insurance companies are still doling out high premiums to minority groups in specific areas while giving other groups lower rates just because they live in the suburbs. The same point exists when you look at the housing market. It still exists today that realtors will stear certain buyers to areas just outside of priveleged suburb areas just to keep the picture of those areas as fitting to the current racial or economic class in that area. Can you tell me how many black people own the insurance companies and real estate companies that are doing this? Very few. So again, it can't be just black on white racism.
Racial discrimination by white's toward other individuals in America has been going on for years and just because you say it isn't doesn't make it a reality to average people. That is the real point of the Civil Rights movement.
You said, "Of course SOME people will tend to support their own race (there I agree with you) but it is wrong when it happens and I am saying that the overwhelming majority of people who do that sort of thing are Black Americans." What's so wrong about it IF you feel the person you are supporting is better for the job and will at least consider you when they get the job? It is the same reason the political parties operate as they do. Why must every Republican vote solely Republican and every Democrat vote solely Democrat? Based on all I stated earlier it is obvious that blacks are not the main culprits here. I would dare say blacks are practicing the "learned behavior" acquired by watching caucasian men give one another the upper hand for the advancement of their race or class or group of friends. Unfortunately in our society it has become the way to get ahead.
3) If you suppose that the KKK's membership is merely a marginalized group of outcast individuals, you should visit their website sometime and see the number of highly educated and powerful people among their membership. I think you will find that you are misinformed on this issue.
Anonymous, Thank you for writing.
I want to first address your position on the KKK. It is highly inappropriate to go to the KKK’s website to find out how important they are. Yeah, of course they think very highly of themselves. What you should be doing is looking around your own life and give me an example of where an association with the KKK has helped anyone. And surely you don’t think that the KKK is representative of white Americans or any other group for that matter, do you? If you don’t think they are then I fail to see the relevance of the KKK in this discussion. If on the other hand you believe as Jeremiah Wright does that this is the United States of the KKK then perhaps you are too far gone for you and I to have a meaningful debate on this matter.
With regards to the polls, you are right about the sample space, Rasmussen for example typically uses a sample space of 1500 people. You still have not addressed the importance everyone places on the polls. If they did not give a picture of reality, I suspect the business of taking polls would have died a long time ago. My challenge to you still exist; why are the polls so important?
I don’t want to get too far of topic so let’s remind ourselves of what’s at issue here. I am proposing that it is harder for Black Americans to see past color than it is for White Americans. And this is based on the polling data; 86% of Blacks support the Black candidate while only 47% of Whites support the White candidate. Telling me some white people use color to judge character is irrelevant since no one in this debate is proposing that some white people aren’t racist. Telling me that some companies do stupid things is also irrelevant; again the person you are debating never stated otherwise nor does he believe otherwise. By the way, a person is more likely to have their car stolen in the city than they would in the suburbs. I would charge more for insurance to people living in the city if I owned an insurance company, not because black people live there but because the risk is higher. You see Anonymous you have not understood the charge before you and you seem to be debating with someone else, not me; assigning things to me that I do not believe or have ever stated.
Is it the case that Barack’s popularity is for the most part due to white Americans doing a better job at race relations or not, since he would be nowhere without them? And is it the case that Black American’s inability to vote for a white candidate (who is in all the ways that matter, the same as the Black candidate) in large part due to a sinister view of White Americans? This is all I have stated; this is my severe challenge to you.
One more thing, voting for someone because they share your views is a good and noble reason to vote for that person. The terms Democrat and Republican indicates a world view and an approach to government. It is perfectly fine to vote for a republican if you are a republican or a Democrat if you are a Democrat. The terms White and Black does not say anything about a person’s character, worldview or approach to government so a black person should not vote for a candidate because he or she is black nor should a white person do the same.
What say you?
I would be interested to know if Anonymous think there is any racism coming from African Americans.
In my limited experience on this planet (almost 30 years now), I can safely say that racism is alive and well in this country. It comes from each and every race or creed that lives here. I would bet big bucks, that you get enough people together, of the same race, regardless of which, there would be at least a few racists in the bunch. There would also be a considerable number of people who are tolerant, and open minded to people of a different skin. White, Black, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern... doesn't matter, there are racists out there, always have been, always will be.
The real issue concerning racism is how much power the racist has over people of a different race. Now considering that well over 90% of the financial, governmental, and educational power in this country is held by white people, it is a simple numbers game, that the white racists have more impact on black Americans than black racists have on white Americans. I can't see how you can refute that. I'm NOT saying all whites in power are racist, just saying by the power of averages, that is how it works.
On top of this, I don't see how supporting your own race is racism. Birds of a feather flock together. It is when a white (or black) person, acts upon these thoughts and feelings of racism, and does something that negatively impacts someone of a different race, that really counts.
Take Jeremiah Wright for example. I know you did a blog on him earlier, and to be honest, every time I hear him speak, when he is allowed to speak, he doesn't say anything that really surprises or upsets me. I say allowed to speak, because if you watch any of his interviews on any of the fox news shows, it is a joke. kinda like Fox "news" :) I think Jeremiah Wright is more in line with MLK Jr., Noam Chomsky and Jesus, than he is with Louis Farrakhan.
And the fact that EVERYONE knows who the KKK and neo-nazi's are, and that I bet no one could name more than one or two, at most, black racist groups are, says a lot...
Peace out
~Andy
And I have to say, starting out your argument above by showing the black man beating down the truck driver, is a joke. Do you forget how that all started? A group of white police, were acquited of beating rodney king to a bloody pulp. hmm, white power in full effect. Also, do a google search for Sean Bell. You know him? The unarmed man who was riddled with over 50 bullets by New York cops? who by the way, were acquited this week of all charges. ahh, yeah, white people better be real worried about what would happen if black people did organize and fight back to the extent that whites have been oppressing for centuries.
That kkk group is tricky. Here's my 2 cents:
The Democrat Party became a party where (back in the day) the Communists were able to find a comfortable home. Now, if you compare these three manifestos (KKK, Democrats, Communist - their respective platforms/what they stand for/their goals and programs) you will find them identical for all intents. We can also search and find that the KKK found the Democrat Party to be their favorite place. These days though, you can substitute Socialism for Communism. They are scarily similar!
Some things are sneaky and tend to morph. Remember who wrote: “The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” That was Norman Thomas. Check him out! This should beg the question why this type is always flocking to the Democrat Party.
These days we see some of these KKK cults attempting to sound as though they’re ‘right wing’ in some (extreme) fashion. Not so fast! Put your thinking caps back on! You will find that the Republican/Conservative Party has been their arch enemy. The Republican Party was the party that fought a very difficult war to free from their grasp peoples who they didn’t even consider as human. You see, just a cursory glance, with a thinking cap on, shows that it is totally unreasonable to think they are actually anything Republican.
We also know that the KKK is cunning, evil, and full of treachery, lies, tricks and espionage. Have you ever read the Confederate ‘constitution’ and do you know who wrote it? I’ll warn you, it’s a pretty awful read and sneaky, if you glance at it too quickly you might be fooled. It is most reasonable to know that these KKK who have become public (when they’ve always heretofore been compulsively secret, underground, and in the dark behind masks) are trying to take great pleasure in perpetuating the myth that their arch enemies hate the same people they hate, do the same things, and share the same beliefs. You know this makes no sense. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is quite obvious once you have your thinking cap in place again.
Even if one were to believe that President Lincoln didn’t actually have an interest in freeing the slaves but (only) wanted to save the Union… No. Keep the thinking cap on! This does not fit! Lets just say it’s true. Lincoln didn’t want to free the slaves :( Lincoln did accomplish wrenching from them their human ‘possessions’ and disrupted all that they had, wanted, and planned. Lincoln abolished the thing that they had built their fortune on. Look, Lincoln, that Republican President, his Party, and his followers, totally ruined them. So, that is an argument that doesn’t make the least sense, even played out on KKK terms. Terms, btw, that the Democrat Party is all about perpetuating.
If you think that a Communist, Socialist, a Democrat, or any KKK member has ever voted for a Republican ticket, you have lost your thinking cap or perhaps never had one.
Do you want to be known as someone without a thinking cap? Do you want to be viewed by the KKK as not having one? For that matter, do you want to be viewed by anyone as not having a thinking cap?
This ideology should find a place nowhere, to be sure.
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