BlogHer - A Bold Prediction: White Americans Will Elect a Black President - Comments

Grateful

Maria Niles — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:57:45 -0600

Thanks for noticing :)

I'm feeling grateful today for the feeling I have about my country. And the crying, cheering diversity of faces in the celebratory crowds leave hopeful for our future.

Thanks for your comment and hooray to you!

You were right!

writethejourney — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:30:56 -0600

So glad it turned out as you predicted--and in a landslide!

Hooray! And take a deep breath of relief today. I am.

From your lips...

Maria Niles — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:21:45 -0600

Voter suppression efforts are the thing that worry me the most. I certainly hope that you are right and efforts underway fail.

And, how exciting to be with your family and to witness your daughter's enthusiasm. Though it's become a bit of a cliche, children really are the future and they give me such hope especially with this election.

Voting by fax

Maria Niles — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:19:10 -0600

You are overseas - is that right, Judith? How fascinating that you can vote by fax. And, I wish 100% of those eligible would make the effort you've made to exercise your right. Thank you.

Great news!

Maria Niles — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:16:49 -0600

Thanks for helping make sure that the limb I went out on won't crash underneath me :)

Thanks for the Hope!

writethejourney — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:25:50 -0600

I hope you are right. We are driving to another city today to be with family on the day when we hope the U.S. will elect the first black President. My daughter, age 5, is bursting at the seams to be celebrating "the election".

I am a white, stay-at-home mom and proud Obama supporter. Let's hope the polls are able to accommodate voters adequately tomorrow and that voter suppression efforts fall flat.

http://www.writethejourney.wordpress.com

I voted by fax a week ago.

Judith in Umbria — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:49:39 -0600

I voted by fax a week ago. I am white, SS age and was delighted to at last cast a vote for a President of color. (any color would do if the candidate were good) I do not know a single person of any age who is voting McCain-Palin.

http://www.judithgreenwood.com/thinkonit/

I think more so its not what

totallyher — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:42:47 -0600

I think more so its not what they see in MCain and palin its what they fear from obama (More Government control). Also many people will just vote repub or dem. and not even care who the candidate is (this is sad). Honestly i think both parties have changed so much that they really shouldnt even be called repub and dem any more. If you look back at both rep and dem both have become more liberal.

D from Totally her No Celebrities, Just Reality.

Vote for Obama

endahe — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:01:59 -0600

I'm Vote for obama ;)

www.endahsetyarini.com

Thank you, Laurie

Maria Niles — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:43:02 -0600

I really appreciate your comment. Thank you for being so kind :) I completely agree that we are living in amazing times. And Stefania's post was beautiful.

Thanks so much for reading and I'm glad you're clicking the links - there's a lot of wonderful writing in there that I was fortunate to find.

The perfect post to send us into the day before the final day.

lauriewrites — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:18:53 -0600

Thank you for this usual deep view of this experience, through the specific lens of culture and race.

I'm still going through the links (and yes, Stefania's quote made me cry real tears.) but loved this from the NYT opinion:

Obama doesn’t transcend race. He isn’t post-race. He is
the latest chapter in the ever-unfurling American racial saga. It is an
astonishing chapter. For most Americans, it seems as if Obama first
came to dinner only yesterday. Should he win the White House on
Tuesday, many will cheer and more than a few will cry as history moves
inexorably forward.

But we are a people as practical as we are dreamy. We’ll soon
remember that the country is in a deep ditch, and that we turned to the
black guy not only because we hoped he would lift us up but because he
looked like the strongest leader to dig us out.

He is indeed NOT post-race - if this election cycle proved anything, sadly, it is that we are not post-race OR gender AT ALL- and it is an astonishing chapter. As overwhelmed as I am, when I was driving home today all I could think was "what an amazing time to be alive." We have so much work to do and I'm so proud of the dialogue that we continually have in this community to move it forward.

Laurie

lauriewrites

You are not alone

Maria Niles — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:58:33 -0600

"But I grew up believing that it's what's inside a person that counts."

I think this simple and powerful notion will be on display Tuesday. It's true but easy to be overlooked in all the ugly that gets amplified.

Thank you for sharing this comment!

I'm "white"

vlb — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:33:33 -0600

I'm white, red-haired, welsh-german heritage. I'm female. I grew up in Central Pennsylvania in the 60's ad 70's with very few "people of color" in my neighborhood or my schools. But I grew up believing that it's what's inside a person that counts.

John McCain and Sarah Palin do NOT speak for me. Further, they embarrass me. Barack Obama is my candidate of choice.

I voted in my first presidential election in 1980. I haven't had very good luck in pres. elections over time. This year, I am hopeful.

I understand

Maria Niles — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:46:07 -0600

And thank you for your kind words, Kalyn. My grandmother called me today and said much the same thing - she doesn't want to speak it out loud. I'm working on a personal goal I set for myself this year so I'm just trying with every fiber of my being to not be afraid of the outcome. And hoping, too.

Great post

Kalyn Denny — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:28:28 -0600

I'm hoping with everything I have that you're right. (And truly I think you are, I think I'm just afraid to say it out loud.)

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

A Bold Prediction: White Americans Will Elect a Black President

Maria Niles — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:39:26 -0600

Most white Americans will not vote for Barack Obama. No Democratic candidate for president has received a majority of white votes since Lyndon Johnson won in a landslide 44 years ago.

But more white voters than voted for John Kerry, Al Gore and even Bill Clinton will vote for Obama on Tuesday if polls are correct. And they will join a majority of black, Asian American, Latino and Native American voters in a coalition that will make history on Tuesday.

This moment has been coming as seen in the growing number of black politicians elected in places where there are few non-white voters. Small town white voters have helped to create the path Barack Obama now walks.

Prejudices can be so deeply ingrained that we are not aware of them. We can hold biases yet vote differently. There is an anecdote of uncertain origin circulating which demonstrates that even openly racist voters can move past their hatred to vote for a African American in the face of economic crisis:

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."

In this economy, racism is officially a luxury.

The ugly racism that still exists to this day in our country crescendoed when a group of neo-Nazi, white supremacist, sons of klansmen, skinheads plotted to kill black school children and then Barack Obama. But even as most Americans recoiled in horror and were grateful that the ATF quickly foiled the plotting as they've done twice before this election season, we will awake Wednesday morning to find that racism, fear and hatred still exist. Black men will still be seen as "bogeymen" and made out to be convenient scapegoats. Many will remain unsure and wary of those who are different from them and others still will openly express their hate. However, their ranks continue to shrink. Obama's candidacy has opened a space for dialog.

This 2008 election is a milestone and may put a black man in the White House. That creates an opportunity for an adult conversation about the murky complexities of race, in part because there’s evidence that when people become aware of their unconscious biases, they can overcome them.

Wounds may have been reopened and rubbed raw anew but in that freshness is an opportunity for them to better heal this time. And we have come far as a nation and that progress as we continue to grow into America's promise of greatness should be celebrated.

What should also be celebrated with this election is that many white voters will ignore the calls to their basest instincts. As Frank Rich noted in his New York Times Op-Ed "In Defense of White Americans":

But the other, less noticed lesson of the year has to do with the white people the McCain campaign has been pandering to. As we saw first in the Democratic primary results and see now in the widespread revulsion at the McCain-Palin tactics, white Americans are not remotely the bigots the G.O.P. would have us believe. Just because a campaign trades in racism doesn’t mean that the country is racist. It’s past time to come to the unfairly maligned white America’s defense.

Carmen VanKerckhove at Racialicious wrote "An open letter to white voters, or what McCain really thinks of you":

Dear white voter, it’s time for a decision.

This November, will you support the candidate who assumes the worst about your character and motivations?

Or will you vote for the candidate who has never stopped believing in and championing your capacity for greatness?

And perhaps that will be Obama's greatest gift towards healing the racial divisions still present in this country. However, it will be up to all of us Americans to use that gift:

We must. When we elect Barack on Tuesday we will not be at the end of struggle; we will be at the beginning. The White House is not the prize. Our calling is to something greater than any one man in the halls of power. When Obama wins we must begin to govern. We must begin to craft a nation that will move forward in truth and reconciliation rather than in fear and division.

Then, and only then, can we begin to create history:

Obama doesn’t transcend race. He isn’t post-race. He is the latest chapter in the ever-unfurling American racial saga. It is an astonishing chapter. For most Americans, it seems as if Obama first came to dinner only yesterday. Should he win the White House on Tuesday, many will cheer and more than a few will cry as history moves inexorably forward.

But we are a people as practical as we are dreamy. We’ll soon remember that the country is in a deep ditch, and that we turned to the black guy not only because we hoped he would lift us up but because he looked like the strongest leader to dig us out.

Additional Reading:

Princeton Professor, Melissa Harris-Lacewell writes at her blog The Kitchen Table:

I know that when Obama wins next month America will still be marked by racial inequality. I know that being black will still mean living poorer and dying younger. Nevertheless, I am holding onto the hope that his win will be one more step to making Melissa the professor as much a citizen as Joe the plumber.

Wendi C. Thomas asks at The Root (rhetorically) "Will White People Riot?" [when John McCain loses]

If the polls are accurate—and Obama wins—will these few angry white people make good on their oral declarations? And will those who stood by them silent, join them? With dreams deferred, can angry whites do what Langston Hughes taught us—to let it fester like a sore, even to let sag like a heavy load? Or will the dream of a perfect streak of white men in the White House, if deferred, cause white people to explode?

Cassandra Spratling in the Detroit Free Press describes how Obama's rise reflects a dream realized for many:

Serving proudly in the Army in the 1940s, Samuel Green sought to exercise a basic right of citizenship. He wanted to vote.

While stationed overseas, he requested an absentee ballot. But officials in his hometown of Montgomery, Ala., said no.

He had not paid the poll tax, the roughly $2 fee that kept many black people from voting.

"Here I was overseas, fighting in World War II, and they denied me the right to vote," said Green, who moved to Detroit in 1945. "We could hardly afford to live, let alone pay a poll tax."

For African Americans like Green -- who lived through segregation and the country's hottest stretch of racial violence since slavery -- the rise of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as a viable candidate for president is more than amazing. It represents the realization of a future they never thought they would live to see.

They are elated, not just because a black man is the presidential front-runner, but because voters appear to be judging Obama for his qualifications, not his skin color.

While the elders help us put history in context, children show us the hope and promise of the future.

BlogHer Contributing Editor Sarah of Sarah and the Goon Squad writes "My Children Give Me Hope for the Future":

She pointed at the man on the left “This is Narack Ofama” (meh, close enough for a four year old) “and this is John McCain. You know how I can tell?”

I asked her how.

“They have different color hair.”

While I sit here and worry that there are Americans out there that won’t vote for a good man just because of the color of his skin I can be assured that at least one of the next generation of voters didn’t even notice the difference.

That gives me hope.

And Stefania Pomponi Butler at City Mama writes a letter to her children before election day:

Bunny and Wallie, in Barack Obama, you can also see yourselves: a multicultural citizen of the world with a mind that is open to all ideas and with a heart that is capable of loving all people. That is my hope for you and that is why your parents voted for Barack Obama.

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BlogHer CE Maria Niles has for months boldly sported an Obama inauguration countdown clock over at her personal blog PopConsumer.