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Lately, Senator Barack
Obama has been coming up a lot in newspapers and magazines. I picked up a
copy of Newsweek one day, and was dismayed to find an entire article about
Obama’s race. After surveying a few more magazines, I found articles that
were fairly similar in content. Headlines read “Is the
United States ready for a minority president?” and “Black US president?”.
I had been curious about Obama’s views, his plans, and his outlook
on the issues. But all I could find, on that particular day, were
editorials about how an African-American president could affect the
country, and whether America was ready for Obama on that level.
From what I read, I could
have no idea what this politician’s views were. His plan of action for the
Iraq war? His opinion on stem cell research? Not a clue. And I wouldn’t be
surprised if the rest of America were the same. Do newspapers really think
we are all so shallow we couldn’t care less about the views of
politicians, and about the future of our country? Do they think that all
we care about this candidate is the color of his skin? And more
importantly, are they right?
Voting Obama into office
will not be a huge step for African Americans if he is voted in as a
result of African Americans trying to support others of their race, and
Caucasians attempting to not appear racist. The entire point of the Civil
Rights movement was that minorities should be treated no differently than
anyone else. People trying to ward off racism complain about people
judging based on appearance, and not on personality and ideas. Passing
laws allowing all races the ability to vote was a huge step for
minorities-- but voting a minority into office based on race isn’t. The
fact that we make decisions and opinions based on appearance is a step
backwards in the movement for equality. It’s no wonder people complain
about racism all the time. America is full of it. Not that I suggest we
should try and eliminated racism all together- that’s probably impossible.
But we should have the willpower to focus on what really matters,
especially in items as important as presidential elections. And that's the
issues.
We should not vote for a
president because he is African American, just as we should not vote for
candidates just because they are Caucasian. Executive power should be
determined by more than appearance. So to answer the question, is America
ready for a black president, I have a reply: it shouldn’t matter whether
we are ready for a minority president. What matters is whether we are
ready for Obama’s opinions on the issues.
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