This entire election had been celebrated as ground breaking for the the "quantity, quality, and diversity" (USA Today) of its candidates, from early on in the process. Its not really very earth shattering if the US, the supposed leader of the free world, is only now approaching the first potential victory of an African American candidate. Instead, it reveals how slow and manipulated our social and political progress is in America, contrary to what we would like to think. Certainly, Obama's victory would be continuing the momentum in the right direction, but we must not let it be an illusion that racial issues are non-existent. More importantly, we should take from this election, the point that our progress is too slow and that the issues are not openly discussed enough. And when these issues are discussed openly, as in the case of John Lewis, the openness is heavily criticized. So most often the issue of race, "is found only in sentiments that are whispered, internalized or masked by discussions of culture or religion," (New York Times).
With the economic, foreign, and domestic nightmares facing our country, the most frightening issue in this election, is the fact that some people are still asking themselves, "If we are ready for a black president?"
2 comments:
It's discouraging, also, to be unable to discuss such a problem without being accused of playing the "race card." I believe that we must break the cycle of silence before we truly make headway. On a similar note, with Hillary Clinton's loss in the primaries, we mustn't leave out the idea of sexism as a current problem in our nation. Although it has never sparked a national uprising like Civil Rights Movement, the subtleness of sexism remains a factor in current society, and we must continue to talk about it.
The role of “race” in the presidential election is definitely important. I think that it brings out the best and worst in America because, as you pointed out, it indicates where we were and where we are today. I agree that questions of race and gender have to be discussed in order to reach a higher level of understanding about the level of acceptance of different minority groups in America that have a history of being discriminated against.
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