90% of Black People are Only Voting for Obama Because He's Black!

[last1standing]

I keep reading this disgusting line in post after post and I think it's time to make it clear why black people have the audacity to vote for the first major African American candidate to run for president.

Black people in this country have gone from slavery to impoverishment to permanent underclass status. In 2008 if a black man goes into the wrong area he can be beaten up or killed for the crime of having darker skin. In 2008 it is still common in some places to be called a nigger by some idiot yelling from the safety of a passing car. It is also common to be stopped by the police even when no crime has been committed. People still look at the working black person as a beneficiary of affirmative action and the black person on welfare as lazy.

Now a time has come when someone who is running for the presidency has actually gone through the same trials and experienced the same discrimination they have. This is the first person to ever get this close to the oval office who would be able to view the legislation that comes to his desk with a real understanding of what it's like to walk into a store and not be served. These are experiences that are important to those who have been oppressed and perhaps it's time that someone in the white house knows these things first hand.

Some will still call it racism, but very few African Americans would withhold their vote from a white candidate. Can the same be said about 90% of European Americans?

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. People can vote or not vote for whatever candidate they want for

whatever reason they want. Even though you would wish it otherwise, it's out of your control.

[Kittycat]

2. So is it your belief that 90% of the AA community only supports Obama because

he's 1/2 black? You cannot seriously believe that.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. I couldn't care less about why anybody votes for anybody.

It's up to them.

[DefenseLawyer]

4. Thanks for stating the obvious

But what's your point?

[redqueen]

34. Who said this was about control?

People are proudly saying, in front of TV cameras, that they would not vote for a black person.

Whether we can control it is beside the point. It is disgusting.

And sadly, some are trying to claim that 90% of Obama's supporters are only supporting him because he's black. That's the sickness that this thread is addressing.

[The_Casual_Observer]

42. Whta would you like to do? Propose a fine or punishment for not voting

for Obama for the wrong reasons?

[redqueen]

47. Acknowledgment of reality would be nice...

acknowledgment WITHOUT the attempt to try to deflect the outrage onto the "90% of blacks who (supposedly) only support Obama because he's black!"

That too much to expect?

[populistdriven]

58. This is Satire Right? You cant be serious. No one actually believes this...

Show me one post where someone here actually said this.

[Aloha Spirit]

3. Is it necessary to post inflammatory titles without context?

I know I know, we should assume that anyone who reads it knows that it's not a straight comment.
Still though, it's ..unpleasant to see these type of threads.


But yeah, I agree, and think that black people are just in a better position to evaluate Obama fairly.

[last1standing]

9. Would you feel better if I put the OP title in quotation marks?

If so, I'll do that for some context, but I want to make sure that people see exactly what I see when I read that crap. And yes, I want them to feel the anger.

[Aloha Spirit]

15. Ha, I guess quotation marks would be better. You know what, you're right, people should get mad.

I rescind my previous post.

[last1standing]

37. Hell yes, they should.

DU should be a place where these kinds of comments are shouted down and the poster made aware of why what he posted was wrong. Instead too many are excusing it or even agreeing with it. :mad:

[Egnever]

6. While I disagree with the idea that 90% vote for him because he is black

I also think racism is not as one sided as you want to make it appear. You use this as an example..

In 2008 if a black man goes into the wrong area he can be beaten up or killed for the crime of having darker skin.

But the reverse is also true there are many neighborhoods in america where a white person can be beaten up or killed for the color of their skin.

Also i cant tell you how many times a day I hear the word nigger when i go to my black friends houses. It never slips from my lips but I hear it in a never ending stream from my friends. This is something the black community needs to work on IMHO if the word is so offensive then stop using it as a way to describe your friends!

There is a lot of work left to do on race still from all sides to be sure, but the fact that we are striving for it in the face of what not long ago seemed impossible odds gives me at least a lot of hope.

This primary is certainly putting the fact that racism is alive and strong in this country on the front burner, but that will only make it that much sweeter when it is defeated.

[last1standing]

8. The number of people killed for being white is far, far less than that for black people.

And, as with everything, context is the key to using "nigger". Much like "pussy" can be an obscenity or a kitty cat, "nigger" can refer to a close friend or someone thought to be inferior. It is in how you use it.

[Egnever]

21. Context is a tricky thing

we see it here all the time when peoples words are taken out of context and used against them.

As I said I hear it every day, it doesn't bother me as I know its not derogatory when my friends use it in reference to each other and me. However familiarity breeds contempt they say and IMHO Nigger has too many negative connotations to be thrown around so freely.

On a related note when I first approached my black circle of friends about registering to vote and voting for obama to a person everyone of them laughed at me and said he will get shot. I convinced them to vote for him anyway and now they are totally on board but in the beginning al they would do is laugh at me.

Funny that, and tragic at the same time.

[Youphemism]

7. This Really Isn't True

I'm a fair-skinned person of Irish/German/Ukrainian descent on my father's side. But my mother was adopted and never told who her real parents are.

I'm supporting Obama because I *might* be black.

[havocmom]

10. LOL! Welcome to DU, Youphemism! Love the thought, love your screen name

Looking forward to reading more from you!

[NatBurner]

14. *chuckles*

[peace13]

16. I'm with you...white as a lily with brown eyes

but I know my Great Great Grandpa, well he was not so lily white. I vote for Obama only to honor GGG. In reality I vote for Obama not because of his color but because of what he stands for and the possibilities that he brings. Peace. Kim

[havocmom]

Oh, lookie! That one earned you a star from somebody.

Now you can use the search feature and cool stuff like that.

I just used the search feature to read some of your other posts.... Very amusing stuff, and GD-P could use more humor! :thumbsup:

[Youphemism]

72. Big Thanks

I really appreciate that...

Thanks for the nice comments and thanks to the person who gave me my star.

I feel so important now. It's as if someone has suddenly pinned a flag on the lapel of my soul.

I promise to use my new powers for good -- or, at least, for fun.

[Celebration]

45. that is too cool

My heritage is northern European, but at the end of summer I can be dark enough to look black. I gotta have some Moor in my background, because this is from the French and German lines.

Whoa--my skin color looks like Barack. That's 90% of the reason I support him. Right.

[kevinbgoode]

11. Wow...this must be the first presidential election any AA's have ever voted in. . .

Since obviously, they couldn't possibly have ever voted to put any white males into the White House.

[Rex_Goodheart]

12. Nothing particularly wrong with blacks wanting a black president

What IS wrong is to be called "racist" for pointing out the obvious truth that they do.

Many Obama supporters on this site have been too free and easy with the R word.

[peace13]

17. Same goes for Hill voters who would vote for her just because she is a woman.

Race and gender are not good criteria for picking a candidate.

[last1standing]

20. What is wrong is comparing black people who vote for Obama to white who refuse to vote for him.

Black people aren't coming out and stating that they will not vote for a white candidate, but they are being compared to people who are stating that they will not vote for a black candidate. The difference is that of preference and hatred. Yet, people on this board are comparing the two groups.

[cici4691]

13. The world ONLY in your post makes an otherwise true statement false

I think it would be more honest if you used the world PRIMARILY. I don't doubt that if there was not a black candidate in the race they would be supporting a white candidate. Thus, these voters are not supporting Obama only because he's black. Rather, they are supporting him over Clinton primarily because he's black.

If all things between Clinton and Obama are equal (and for the most part they are despite of the divisions between their supporters) then you have to ask what is the deciding factor AAs are seeing that makes Obama more attractive in such overwhelming numbers. It may not be apparent now but in retrospect it will be.

Lastly, your assumption that 90% of European Americans would withhold their vote for a person because he's black is presumptive and racist. You cannot have it both ways.

[last1standing]

22. No offence but I think you misunderstood my post.

I'm saying that African Americans are choosing Obama over Clinton because of his life experience, not because they're racist against white people. And the title is a quote from some other posters I've seen on the forum. I wanted to point out how hateful and disgusting it is.

[cici4691]

28. Life experience as what...

Is that life experience based on his living his life as a black man in a white world. How then, can you not say those voters are voting based on his race?

I am not saying it's wrong to do. I COMPLETELY understand why they are doing this and do not begrudge them for doing so. What I have problem with is when it's not called what it is. I also want to point out that Hispanics did NOT support Richardson 90+% based on his life experience of being Hispanic. Likewise, women are not supporting Clinton by 90+%.

Thus, what is the factor that is causing this overwhelming support and why shouldn't it be described for what it is?


If it looks like a duck...

[last1standing]

29. And here I thought you had misunderstood the post.

You didn't, you just don't like the answer. I've explained why it's wrong to call black voters who support Obama racists like those who refuse to vote for him are. You either accept that or you don't. Your choice.

I'm note saying that you must vote for him or support him. I'm making a comment on a very ignorant talking point that I've seen cropping up lately. Nothing more.

[redqueen]

38. Not life experience. Tactics, Campaign competence. Charisma.

There's LOTS of reasons besides life experience.

[knixphan]

18. K&R

[BlooInBloo]

19. Clinton supporters are doing everything they can to hide their racist campaign.

[cici4691]

23. Obama supporters are doing everything they can to label nonsupporters racist

Please. Don't tell me that my concerns over Obama's thin resume and his truthiness are race based. They are not. If I saw his credentials on paper without seeing his picture or knowing who he is thenI would not find him to be the best person for the job or even remotely qualified for it.

[BlooInBloo]

27. Nah. Just the racist ones - and there are a great many of them.

[cici4691]

33. There appears to be many racist* supporters on BOTH sides...

but only one side is being called on it.

*racist by using race as their primary deciding factor why to support or not support a candidate.

[BlooInBloo]

36. I don't know of a single person who's voting for Obama because he's black.

[AZ Criminal JD]

62. Coming from someone who has an avatar of a union.

Unions are the most racist institution in America. They were formed to keep newly free blacks out of the skilled trades. They have not changed their spots. It is disgusting to see that on DU.

[Saturday]

24. Your explanation only confirms that

Blacks are voting for Obama because he's Black. You said it in a nicer way, of course, but the reason is still there.

[last1standing]

26. But you still compare black people prefering Obama to whites who hate black people.

Why is that? I think I've made it clear that black people will vote for white people but you haven't made it clear that the racists you compare them to would do the same. That is why you get called a racist.

I'm not saying you are a racist, but your comments are racist because they lump an entire race of people in with a subsection of hatemongers without any prequalifications.

[PinkyisBlue]

63. There is definitely a double standard going on..

It was okay for people to vote for Bush because he swaggered, talked stupid, and seemed like a fun guy to drink a beer with. But when we have a candidate who is actually intelligent and thoughtful, there must be something wrong with him/her: Al Gore was a liar, John Kerry was an elitist, and Barack Obama is elitist AND black.

According to a lot of people who play the race card, as a white woman, I should naturally be drawn to Hillary, but I'm not. Her entire campaign has turned me off. And although Obama wasn't my first choice from the start, I see him as the best choice now.

I see all this talk about race as a way to avoid talking about class. John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich (my favorite candidates) attempted to discuss poverty and class and received very little media attention. It's easier to divide people by race than income level. You can't have the masses unhappy with the caste system, it's better to have them angry at the immigrants or the blacks.

[Doctor_J]

25. Yes, that's why 90% of them voted for Clinton, and 90% for Gore

they're black too!

[EffieBlack]

68. And why fewer than 20% voted for Sharpton and fewer than 1% voted for Keyes

[Doityourself]

30. I don't even fight about it anymore..I just say yep, I'm voting for him 'cuz he's BLACK! & I

voted for all other democratic presidential nominees 'cuz they were white. Just changed my mind this time..is all!

I like black this go round..next time I might vote blue..or orange..or maybe even martian..

[Butch350]

31. I Was an Edwards Backer...

I am a Black man. Here is how I feel about Barack.

* I am not supporting him because he is Black,

* But I am supporting him because he is Black. (zen riddle)?

I started out supporting Edwards before Obama. I've voted in every presidential election
since I was 18, and there was only one color to choose from. I didn't evoke racism, I just
voted for the guy who's BS I liked the most.

[last1standing]

41. Ooohh! Zen riddles! :-)

I was for Edwards until he dropped out because he was the only one talking about issues that really affect the American people. After he dropped out I studied both candidates and found them completely alike except for Hillary's disgusting campaign style.

I moved to Obama.

[redqueen]

32. "very few African Americans would withhold their vote from a white candidate"

That's the logic that escapes those that try to project racism onto others... what they're trying to rationalize, or WHY, is beyond me.

[BlooInBloo]

35. If Clinton supporters can make the case that black folks are "just as bad" as white folks...

it makes their supporters' racism look a lot less bad.

It's a common trick for white folks to use.

"But black people say "nigger" all the time! Why is it ok when they do it?"

And so on.

[redqueen]

39. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that such an unbelievably stupid "trick"

could be effective.

We need critical thinking classes. Logic is just not that difficult. It really isn't.

[BlooInBloo]

44. It has nothing to do with critical thinking - it's a flimsy cover for a conclusion....

they've already decided upon in advance. It matters not to them that it doesn't withstand rational scrutiny.

[redqueen]

48. So... it's to protect their own flawed thinking?

From their own scrutiny?

I don't get it.

[BlooInBloo]

50. lol - no - they don't care about "logic" or "rationality". They just want to be racist...

They know that in order to be racist, they need a cover. They don't need much of a cover, since the judges are on their team (i.e. white). So just a minimal cover, that withstands no intellectual scrutiny is taken. And that's good enough, because the judges are on their team in the first place.

[redqueen]

51. Ohhh!

Well let's hope they lose the majority of the judges. SOON! :)


on edit: I mean I hope that "the judges" stop being racist... not that we replace them with minorities... just in case any "they're gonnna take over amurka!" types are reading and getting their paranoia fix.

[BlooInBloo]

52. Yup. They're who I usually harp on. Racism will only end when white folks end it.

Since white folks simply won't listen to black folks about it.

EDIT: Clarification added.

[bridgit]

40. How do Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Alan Keyes fit into this...

I'll check back w/you when republicans roll out the likes of Armstrong Williams in response to this 'new electorate' being forged in the chill of summer. But then it's all...

Barack Obama? Barack Obama, "has actually gone through the same trials and experienced the same discrimination they have"? These "same trials" you're grasping at above?

I think it peculiar to pin such 'observations' on Obama because his skin is black. Not to mention that with his mother having introduced Ireland into his blood-line, you could have as easily touched upon The Great Potato Famine, and the likelihood that Longshanks would send in the Irish first to engage & absorb the initial brunt of both adversarial bowmen & England's Greater Glory.

I'll bet Obama has had enough of this pinning the tail on the donkey nonsense. I'll bet you dollars to donuts it's better than an even bet:

"“Shame on Danny for trying to pull that stunt. I went to Punahou on a scholarship. I was raised by a single mom and my grandmother.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/hawaii-senator-apologizes-to-obama

I went to university on a scholarship, and interned in ChiTown among others. "Punahou on a scholarship" ain't no So. Side of Chicago, just say'n

[last1standing]

43. You're very quick to dismiss the black experience in this country.

I've read your post a few times looking for something I can discuss logically with you but there is nothing there but a complete dismissal of 400 years of suffering as though it was nothing more than a few pages in a history book.

There are limits to how low a person should be able to go and you've sunk far past that.

[bridgit]

71. I lived part of it, your ignorance is sweeping as a blatant example of race baiting...

here at DU. Which, certainly, would seem to have been your intent. Therefore congratulations, nevertheless...

You have suggested, as have many Obama supporters; that to *not* vote for Obama is to deny the history, the "400 years of slavery". Not only that; but to have a viewpoint counter to you, yourselves the Obama supporters, and by extension: Barack Obama, is to be a racist by definition and of the highest order. That is simple-minded nonsense. If this is the message of the Obama campaign wherever it condones such gibberish by it's silence, then my thought is to make it even better by changing it.

What could be next? Let's see; To call DUer's Holocaust deniers? Ignorant of the plight of American Indians? Any other ignorance you'd care to associate yourself with?

There is, at least it is my hope, no DUer's that are not aware these matters. But to use them in your efforts to pin them, as I had mentioned above, onto Obama as though he has personally experienced them is to abuse them more than you are able to admit. I find that a strange position to live within. To use the suffering of others in attempts to position your hatred of still others is to my mind usury.

If this is the level of discourse you intend; your's is not a matter of your having sunk any further anywhere, but to conclude that you are unable to rise any higher from that lowly position you already hold so dear.

Obama is not running for liberator of the AA population of America...he is running, at least insofar as he has said, for: President of the United States of America, the whole thing, the nine, and the enchilada.

You guys need to get it right, get it straight.

[NashVegas]

46. I Can't Imagine You'd Find Anyone Other Than a Few Trolls Complaining About This Fact

What I complain about, as do many other Hillary Clinton supporters, is the fact that African-descended voters are being encouraged to vote along racial lines while women are told it's important that we don't don't vote along gender lines, and especially bad girls vote with our vaginas.

[last1standing]

49. I'm not encouraging anyone to vote according to race or gender.

I'm merely explaining why comparing people who prefer someone of a certain skin color to people who actively hate people of that color is wrong. It's making a racist comment just as someone stating they can't vote for a woman is making a sexist comment.

To be clear, I don't think most people at DU are racist, but they are making racist comments just as some are making sexist comments but are not truly sexists. I really think these people have just not clearly thought out the repercussions of their words and thoughts.

[NashVegas]

61. Ordinarily

I would agree with you.

However, if you were to fill in the blanks to these sentences and use them as DU thread titles:

"Hey isn't it great that we might finally get a _____ president?"

"You shouldn't vote for ___ because they are ____."

It's pretty obvious to know which candidate's name or group ID would get mostly approval from other posters and which would get mostly flames. It's understandable why the black vote is so heavily leaning towards Obama. Is it not equally understandable why some women might be a little pissed off over the fact that's portrayed as a good thing, but women voting for HC is portrayed as a bad thing?

[redqueen]

54. Where are black voters being encouraged to vote along racial lines?

[NashVegas]

55. Do You Deny

This has been happening, or are you just ankle-biting?

[redqueen]

56. I can't deny it has been happening. I'm not omniscient.

I haven't noticed it, if it has.

If you don't want to search, perhaps you might PM me some terms to search for?

[Lilith Velkor]

57. Exactly! You don't see AA posters bloviating about "The Brown Leading the Blind"

They would be tombstoned for that, but a female blowhard braying about "The Blonde Leading the Blind" gets massive applause. Disgusting.

[Imagevision]

53. oh bullshit they would still vote for him if his color was aqua simply because he makes sense!

[populistdriven]

59. Show me one post where someone here actually said this.

[lastliberalintexas]

60. Except Obama hasn't had the typical AA experience in America

Just as Hillary Clinton hasn't had the typical white female experience either (esp in relation to the glass ceiling issues).

I understand and appreciate the idea that someone wants to elect a person who has lived their life experience. I just find it very telling that MLK III never endorsed Obama, and in fact wrote in support of Edwards before he dropped out. I would imagine that King would also be very supportive of Kucinich as well.

You are correct in that the Black experience in America has not and is not a good one. Blacks are disproportionately imprisoned and impoverished, underemployed and undereducated. That is not Obama. Kucinich was the candidate who reminded me the most of the kids I went to school with, which was a 75% Black student population of mostly poor to working class families. Saying that Obama understands where those kids and their families are coming from just because he also happens to be Black is ludicrous. He probably does, but it's because of the activism and community aid projects he's handled in his life, rather than the color of his skin.

[EffieBlack]

69. The fact that Obama has been fortunate enough to avoid those experiences does not mean

that he is not extremely sensitive to them - and, in fact, has frequently noted that his life could have taken a very different turn, as it does for so many, many black men in this country.

There are all sorts of "typical" black people in this country. A black person does not have to be poverty-stricken or imprisoned or drug-addicted to have been through many of the common experiences that a significant number of African Americans in this country endure.

[lastliberalintexas]

70. Oh I agree that he can probably empathize quite well

I am simply asserting that he can empathize more because of the work he has done in minority communities, rather than simply because of the color of his skin.


I did not mean to imply that blacks in America are all imprisoned or living in poverty, only that those conditions disproportionately affect the black community. Blacks can be pigeon holed as easily as whites, Hispanics, or Asians- which is to say, not at all.

[EffieBlack]

73. I hear you - but don't fully agree

Being black in America is more than just being in minority communities. A significant part of being black IS the color of one's skin - since that often frames and defines us as African Americans, regardless of our backgrounds, character or anything else about us.

Most blacks experience very different treatment because of our skin color - if not constantly, at least regularly enough that we notice it. As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said: "I never have had to put my hand in front of my face to know that I'm black."

This is something that is understandably sometimes hard for some white people to understand until they have had a chance to walk in a black person's shoes or just see up close the difference in treatment that we often get. For example, a very good friend of mine, a white woman who works as an assistant in a major corporation, once called me almost in tears after seeing a very prominent African American man arriving for a corporate board meeting treated like crap by the building guard - who upon seeing him drive onto the lot in his very sleek and very expensive luxury car, assumed that he was a chauffeur there to pick HER up. She told me, "I knew this kind of thing happens, but to see it with my own eyes . . ." She said she was horrified to see a black man treated this way but absolutely mortified that she had to witness his humiliation. He waved it off and told her, "I am a black man in America - this sort of thing happens all the time."

Michelle Obama once said, in answer to a question about whether she feared for her husband's safety, "Barack could get shot just going to the gas station." And she's right. We still live in a country where black men get pulled over, harrassed and sometime shot just for being black - and this can just as easily happen to wealthy, comfortable, educated black men who don't have time to pull out their "honorary white person" card before getting dragged out of their car by someone who only sees their black skin and judges them as criminals, threatening or just plain trouble. And even those black men who never actually get treated this way must constantly be on their guard because they know they could be next. One of the saddest duties of the parents of black boys is having to teach their sons how to behave in a manner that will lessen the likelihood that they will get shot by the police. It's a terrible fact of life for our black men.

This, I believe is part of the common experience that Barack Obama shares with other blacks, especially African-American men. I think much of his empathy for this situation was drawn as a result of his own experience as a black man in America long before he began working in the Chicago inner city.

[EffieBlack]

64. self-delete - dupe

[EffieBlack]

65. self-delete - dupe

[EffieBlack]

66. Great post - K&R

[Duke Newcombe]

67. If black folks ONLY ever voted for black folks...

...that would be something. But in every Dem election, AfAms turn out for WHOEVER the nominee is, regardless. So that brings a lie to that little stupid meme right there.

Then again, ignorant folks never let facts get in the way of a good argument...


Duke