“Obama election spurs race crimes around country” in an article by JESSE WASHINGTON an AP National Writer displays just how deep the issues of race still run in the American psyche. I was not at all surprised by the contents of this article. I have myself have experienced and been disgusted by similar instances. Everywhere from the grocery store to Barnes & Noble to an online college discussion board I have witnessed firsthand the racial tension that exist to this day even as Barrack Obama stands to become are our 44th president. My first such experience was in my political science class. We were discussing the different places we’ve been approached by campaigners when my classmate admitted that her mother had been stopped by two young men as she was entering food lion. They asked her who she intended to vote for. When she politely declined to answer she was verbally confronted by the men and clued into the fact that “If Barrack Obama Wins that he will be sworn in hanging from the end of a noose” I could hardly believe this when she said it. It wasn’t until I read the following post by one of my classmates on my class’s online discussion board ironically titled “Geting under my skin!” that I realized just how pervasive and convoluted the issues of race are in America today.
Posted date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:51:10 AM EST
“Alright here is a debate, Im not one to voice my opinion like this, and i don't want to come across as a racist because i am deff. not. but i am really getting aggravated with this whole thing about us having a black president. Ok first of all HE ISN'T BLACK! he is a mixed, intelligent individual whom which I DID vote for. But everytime i turn on the tv, and anywhere i go all i see is the black community going nuts about this. i mean if you really wanted to be a prick lets look at the score board here im pretty sure its 43 1/2 to 1/2 calm down! I think that he is going to be a great president and has a lot to offer this downwards spiraling country but come on playing rap songs about having a black president and jumping around like a bunch of idiots because we have a MIXED president, come on is all this really needed? oh and let me say this just one last time HE ISN'T BLACK! he is just as much white as he is black I would love to hear how the rest of the class feels about all of this because i know you guys have noticed it as well.”
More recently while having coffee with a date at Barnes & Noble I asked her what she thought about the election results. She replied that she would have voted for Obama. I replied that I in fact had voted for Obama but was still skeptical as to just what it was that was going to change. Immediately we we’re approached by an older women who slouching over the table of books we were discussing unabashedly admitted that she thought “Obama is the precursor to the anti Christ” and informed us that his campaign had been funded by “rich Saudi Muslims with oil money”. I held my tongue and proceeded to walk away disgusted and embarrassed as my date had just recently moved to the states from Canada.
As the article clearly displays, these sort of instances are not isolated. Racial tension remains an unresolved issue in communities around the country. Not just reserved for the uneducated as can be seen by one of my classmates experiences and another’s post as well as my personal experience at Barnes & Noble.
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