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September 21, 2008 at 05:56:15

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Will Racism Cost Obama the Election?

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By Mary Shaw (about the author)     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

opednews.com     Permalink

For OpEdNews: Mary Shaw - Writer

Most Americans believe that this nation is on the wrong track. We want change.

Why then are Barack Obama and John McCain running neck-and-neck in the polls?

Do people not realize that McCain has voted with George W. Bush 95 percent of the time? That shows you where his priorities lie -- with the neocon agenda and the oil executives.


Or is race an issue, even here in the 21st century?

Sadly, I suspect that it is.

I grew up in a small redneck town in rural north-central Pennsylvania. From the little bit of news I still receive from back there, I can tell that it still harbors the same closed xenophobic culture in which I grew up feeling like a fish out of water.

They don't like outsiders. They don't like anyone or anything that differs from the mundane white Christian blandness that they are accustomed to. Their worldview is very limited, and any expansion of it seems daunting and is therefore dismissed with anger. And so, as Obama so famously observed, they cling to their guns and religion.

I remember walking through that town on a weekend home from college 30 years ago, just after word got out that I had dated a black guy at school. Hostile shouts of "n____ lover!" were hurled at me by the people I had gone to high school with. Just because I had dated someone with a superficial difference. Someone whom they would never get to know as the smart, funny, congenial man that he was -- because of an irrational prejudice.

And, to this day, I will bet that most of those people will not vote for Barack Obama simply because of the color of his skin.

And so they will instead vote against their own best interests.

Despite the fiasco in Iraq and its cost in dollars and in lives.

Despite the sorry state of our economy.

Despite the price of gasoline.

Despite the fact that some 47 million of us have no health insurance coverage.

And despite all those American jobs being shipped overseas by companies who want to take advantage of the tax breaks that McCain helped to enable.

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http://www.maryshawonline.com

Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views (more...)
 

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
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It seems that we haven't learned anything. by William Cormier on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 9:04:48 AM
Colin Powell can still redeem himself by Bia Winter on Monday, Sep 22, 2008 at 8:53:11 AM
Racism and Hate by Gary Shelby on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 12:01:29 PM
Racism is alive by Bill Samuel on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 1:17:47 PM
Obama/Bush FISA and Afghanistan/Pakistan War on "Terror"? by Hubert Steed on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 4:10:40 PM
A vote for Nader will get you McSAME! by Bia Winter on Monday, Sep 22, 2008 at 8:57:22 AM
John McCain is Waging a War of the Mind by Hargrove on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 6:47:57 PM
Obama's racism? by ScottC 1676867503 on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 8:02:33 PM
Dialogue Regarding Race with Matt Bai of NYT Magazine by Iris Bittencourt on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 8:17:30 PM
Hmm.. by Barker on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 8:23:59 PM
I hope so. by Gallaher on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 9:51:53 PM
WHY by Bia Winter on Monday, Sep 22, 2008 at 9:00:45 AM
Racism by Kellis R. Solomon on Monday, Sep 22, 2008 at 2:33:02 AM
Seen the Light by Bia Winter on Monday, Sep 22, 2008 at 9:08:06 AM
Racism Not The Problem by Elizabeth Hewitt on Monday, Sep 22, 2008 at 2:45:23 PM

 
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