Sunday, February 15, 2009

Post Racial Society

With the election of President Obama many observers say we live in a post racial society.

I am not sure yet about that assertion and do have my doubts, but I do hope it is true.

However, how do we explain then that 40 percent, yes, 40 percent of black kids under 5 live in poverty.

Hmmmm.

50 comments:

  1. Electing President Obama was one of the biggest coming together events in American history. We have put aside race and made a choice based on the best candidate, regardless of anything else. This is a very important thing in achieving a post racial society. I believe that we have reached a post racial society. We have learned to accept people for who they are, putting aside race. We are never going to be perfect, in that there are always going to be conflicts here and there, but overall i believe we have reached a post racial society.

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  2. A post racial way of life may have been reached by some of us, but as a society I'm not sure. I do agree with you that by people "coming together" President Obama won the election. Mainly, I feel that the younger people of this country came together. I feel that much of the younger population has chosen to live a post racial way of life, but I think there are still racial feelings embedded into some of the older citizens of this country and therefore our society has not yet reached a post racial state. I am happy to be a part of the generation that will hopefully make that change.

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  3. It's silly for anyone to believe we now live in a 'Post Racial Society' simply because a man who has black skin was elected President. Using that kind of logic, you'd also have to believe any husband who says he isn't a sexist, who offers as proof "I married a woman, so how could I be a sexist if I did that?"
    Before any white person makes the claim that we now live in a post racial society they should be required to ask a few Americans with different skin colors what their opinion is on the matter. That most whites don't even feel a need to before making their conclusion either way is pretty revealing of where we really are at in society.
    Sure great advances have occurred and Obama's Presidency will cause a great surge forward, but we're not totally there yet.

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  4. The post racial society is a very opportunistic way to look at things, maybe sick of President Bush would be a little more adequate. Granted racism has decreased strongly I guarantee you that.On the other hand think that there are still pockets of racial prejudice and discrimination, clinging onto their tribal type beliefs.
    I am not a supporter of affirmative action reformation whatsoever. I mean how can you prove that your ancestry were oppressed for one and how does that affect you today? Not in the least. Besides I'm pretty sure far enough back all of our forebears had to deal with some type of inequality, why don't we all get paid for that?

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  5. I would say that we do not live in a post-racial society. Racism is alive and well in the U.S., as demonstrated with the statistic given - 40% of black kids under the age of 5 live in poverty. How could we be post-racial? Fifty-four years ago Rosa Park sat on a bus and refused to move to the back. Sixty years ago the last Negro League baseball team folded. Various other similar examples exist. This isn't ancient history. It's still current in that the first black president being elected is considered an achievement (I'm in no way saying it wasn't - it is great and a real accomplishment.) But the fact that it happened and there is hullabaloo says something about the event in itself. 200 years from now when multiple black/Asian/Hispanic presidents have come and gone, we might have defeated racism and the stigma surrounding differences in some peoples' minds. I don't believe the nation was united behind Obama - election results speak for themselves. (53% Obama, 46% McCain - not a real majority. For example, a comparison with the 1936 election shows a solid backing of FDR with 60% of the vote & 36% for Landon. I would say calling Obama's election "one of the biggest coming together events in American history " is a definite overstatement. Racism is not dead.

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  6. I believe we have made great leaps in terms of racism and discrimination in this country, and though it is not common to hear rude, discriminatory comments from a majority of citizens anymore, the few with different ideologies will still express their views. Not all of these people are white, either. I have seen discrimination of other cultures by white people, but also by people of different races. It seems that this is a problem that reaches across cultures and dips into human nature. Maybe some people will always have a small problem with a person who is different than them. Perhaps post discrimination society is a little more accurate, or 'post blatant discrimination by laws and government', anyhow.
    As for post racism, I think a majority of people have that kind of mindset, but some minds can not be changed.

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  7. I agree. Racism is not dead, nor will it probly ever be. But I'm talking about the majority here. Obama got the majority of the vote. If the country as a whole is not post-racial and everyone hates black people than how did he get elected president? There are and always will be people who oppose the rules and don't believe the same thing. Not every single person in this world is going to get along, obviously. But I'm looking at the big picture here.

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  8. Since Oboma was elected it didn't affect affect me other than that I had a new commander in chief. The day and age for racial discrimination in the army has come and gone. We treat each other as equals in the service and no race is spared the brunt of the joke once in a while. Also I was never alive to see racism at its worst, but from my perspective I'd say change has been enacted for the better, but the continuation of affirmative action programs needs to stop, the giving of special opportunities to a group simply because of their skin color and ethnic heritage is wrong.

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  9. I don't believe that statement that we are living in a post racial society. Are we better than we were 50 years ago? Absolutely. But we are not in a completely post racial society. I think that with having Obama as our president, and if he does well in office, we will definitely continue to work towards a post racial society (though I don't think we should judge any race based on just one person). I find that in the older generations particularly there are still people that are racist and unwilling to change their ways. Hopefully as the years go on we will see less and less of this. Also, that statistic about 40% of black kids under 5 are living in poverty. Something definitely needs to be done about that and poverty in general. It's strange to think that we're such a wealthy country overall compared to other countries yet we still have so many people living in poverty or even homeless.

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  10. I disagree that we are now "post-racial" since President Obama's election...and here's why...

    During his campaign, there was an interview that took place in the southern half of the US in Louisiana, at a farming convention of some sort. A man with a microphone and casual clothing walked around to different white individuals, young and old, about what their opinion was if Barack Obama was to be elected president. There were comments such as,
    "I don't want an *N-word* in charge of my money"
    "If he's elected, the whites will be oppressed"
    "He's a Muslim terrorist working for Al quida"

    And other ignorant comments were made.
    It astonished me, not as a democrat or republican, but as an individual who, unlike these folks, knows that PEOPLE are PEOPLE.

    Are these people educated? Do they really walk through life without using logic and thinking this way?

    Racism is unfortunately still alive, and so are occurrences of ignorance to anything outside of selfishness and hate.

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  11. The statistic given, that 40 percent of black kids are poor, really doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of a post-racial society (which I believe is impossible as long as there are races, by the way). What would matter in a post-racial society is that one race has the same opportunity to move out of poverty as any other. Blacks are poorer overall simply because it is taking time to slowly move away from the effects of past discrimination. This process has been artificially sped up through "affirmative action" programs, taht while promoting minorities economically, has shown to regress racial interactions from a social perspective.

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  12. I beleive that 40% of black children living in poverty is the result from lack of family structure today. Divorce, female head of household are main contributing factors.

    I don't beleive that we are in a post racial society today by any means. I also don't think it's getting any worse yet the older generation is still around and hate, ignorance, discrimination is learned at a young age. Most are simply following what they have heard and been taught at a young age but I think they are becoming more tolerant the older they get so that the younger generation can make their own decisions. I also beleive that schools are also a big help in eliminating the racial mindset of young people today.

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  13. Most of us live in "Post-Racial" lives (I.e most of us don't experience racism anymore). I honestly can't say if Society as a whole is post-Racial. There is still the issues of De Facto Segregation, immigration, etc. I think it would be more correct to say that we live in a "Post-obviously-Racial" society. We have a lot of the big problems, even some small ones, down; we just gotta tweak things a bit

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  14. I agree. I hope we really are in a post racist society. If the election is the only measurement of a racial society I may not agree. This only proves that the American voters are not racist. This is like 30% of our population and mostly educated. With discrimination and a large portion minority population living in poverty I think it exists still. But we need to keep the course and obviously what ever we are doing is working. So I argue we are almost there.

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  15. I don't think it's a good idea to say "most of us don't experience racism anymore". Maybe here in Marquette we don't and communities similar to Marquette, but go to any area with a more diverse population or most places in the Southern U.S. and it's a different story. "Most of us" is not a good term. Marquette is not "most of us".

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  16. I don’t believe we live in a post racist society, but we are defiantly on our way. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Flint Michigan. I have seen both sides of the racism that goes on there. In my own high school we had a group of students who would carry around the confederate flag. They even when so far as to write letters threatening the black students in our school. Saying they didn’t belong there and if they didn’t leave they would be punished.

    Then there was a situation at Circuit City where I worked. I asked a colored girl if she needed any assistance looking for a cd and she totally flipped out on me. She was screaming at me, waving her arms around and getting in my face. She accused me of being racist and thought I was only asking her if she needed help because I thought she was going to steal something.

    Even though these situations do occur they are frowned upon. Racism is still a tender subject it is just more of a hidden subject. As the years go by more and more people begin to shun racism and that causes less open confrontations. The feelings are still very much there, however racists are beginning to keep them more to themselves.

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  17. I dont know if racism will ever die in humanity. We do not live post racially however. I believe things are getting better, and the election of our new president is some of that but its not what i would call post racial yet. We are getting there but we are not yet there.

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  19. I think that there are many reasons 40% of African Americans live in poverty.
    Urban Sprwal hasn't helped their cause but niether have the public schools. You also have a larger % of these children being born out of wedlock which I think has more effects on the children than we can imigine.
    If we design a system that makes it easy for someone to live in poverty which I feel we have, we can never expect them to come out of it.

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  20. I don't necessarily think that the statistic posted is relevant to whether or not we live in a 'post racial' society. It is unfortunate that 40% of African Americans children live in poverty, but if we look at the percentages of citizens of different ethnic groups in the US living in poverty, those percentages are not very far apart. According to National Center for Child Poverty (NCCP), 10% of white children live in poverty, 12 % of Asian children live in poverty, 33% of african american children live in poverty, 27% of latino children live in poverty, and 40% of American Indian children live in poverty. If you look at the numbers rather than percents, though, white children comprise the majority of children in poverty. (http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_787.html)

    Poverty is evident in all cultures and does not determine whether or not we live in a post racial society.

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  21. I don't believe we live in a post racial society in the least bit. In fact I think that our society today is more entrenched in racism than forty years ago. It's just that it isn't as apparent as it was once. In a way, it's a worse kind of racism. The proof behind this is the economic or rather lack of economic equality. People of color have much less social opportunities than the "white middle class" especially the males in either societies. Why is this? Under law we are equal people, with equal treatment and opportunities for all. Truth is, we're not. Who's to blame? Certainly not most of the citizens in the United States. I believe the guilt lies in the "power-base" of society. In which relatively few wealthy people really control the fate of millions. Poverty has always been societies great equalizer. Or rather it should be. Unfortunately poverty with lack of education usually culminates racism, violence, ignorance, broken homes, criminal behavior, the list goes on. Hopefully one day, people of all color will band together and realize just how truly powerful we as citizens can be.

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  22. The fact that Obama's election to office has been viewed as an accomplishment for anything other than the Democratic party is proof that we are far from a "Post Racial Society." (Not to discredit his rightful election)
    Of course it is a great step in the direction of equality but there is no doubt Racism still exists in our world today. And it is not, as some seem to believe, limited to discrimination of African Americans. Racism towards all sorts of ethnic minorities exists at all levels of class, not just the poor.
    We may no longer see the open segregation our country did before or during the civil rights movement. But with the post civil rights movement slogan of equal rights and opportunity still in our minds it is important to remember that racism you don't see or hear can be even harder to fight against and especially to dispel.

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  23. This in reply to Paulie Alto as to I don't beleive that we are more entrenched in racism today than 40 yrs ago. To look back into history and to see the discrimination that was rampant and widespread at that time compared to today would make for a very good case for special interest groups advocating for civil rights groups.
    I also don't beleive that the powerbase of powerful white men in this country are responsible for discrimination. The powerbase in our country have been passing laws and endorsing programs to help minorities get ahead.
    I find racism more open in rural communities and feel that it is passed from parents discrimination to their children. I feel it's more of a generation to generation culmination that is making some progress through education as time goes on, but it's hard to wipe clean prejudice from the minds of children that love and see their parents as heroes.

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  24. We're all pretty much in agreement that our society has made attempts and progress at rooting out its negative view and treatment of African-Americans in the past few decades. Yet study after study that examines how skin color affects various sectors and fields of U.S. society finds that if you are 'Black' you are going to receive disparate treatment. Look at studies where banks or insurance co's continue to red-line 'certain' neighborhoods. Look at the results when a social experiment has people applying for an apartment over the phone, or sending in job applications, with some of the applicants having 'white'-sounding names and some having 'black/hispanic'-sounding names---their qualifications are intentionally made similar yet the white-sounding names get the call backs at greater proportion. There has also been a study in recent years that looked at the incidence of amputations performed on people with severe diabetic complications in their limbs, which found that black patients had a greater incidence of the doctor taking the amputation-route. This kind of racial-disparity occurs across all fields of medicine.
    The studies I am mentioning were carefully designed to take into account, and then negate, all differences so the 'all things being equal' rule would apply in relation to the experiment's subjects.
    Let's be honest, most of us whitefolks heard people we never would have suspected of being hard bigots, making flat out racist comments during Obama's campaign. And how many of us were made uncomfortable by hearing it, yet didn't take the step of simply telling the person to knock it off in one way or another? Most I bet. We think we need to remain polite and not ruin the decorum, or the moment. But the offender had already ruined the decorum. Our new Attorney General Eric Holder hits the nail on the head with his recent comment "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards........" Racism is still woven deeply into the fabric of our society.

    I agree with FentonS regarding the parent-to-child realationship being a strong force in perpetuating prejudices. Our parents are our first superheroes, and it's a bit devastating when we reach a point of maturity where we have to acknowledge our superheroes are humans. And bigots.

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  25. Post racial society? I know that we are far from there, yes with Obama becoming the firsat African American to become president we have made leaps and bounds as a whole, but as individuals it is a painstakkingly slow and tedious process. We still have far too many people holding out and continuing the generations and generation old tradition of predjudice beliefs and values to their younger members. Only thing is they now have to put before every sentence.."In the good ole days...". As far as the whole 40 percent of African American children still live in poverty, I blame that on poor education of the black community, the absence of fathers in the home, and the lack of hope many people feel towards their situation. I believe the million man march was a good idea with poor follow up. We need to blame the way older traditions of family, and home was tossed out the window and in return the front door opened and the carpet rolled out for hedonism and self love to come n and make themself at home. Far too many people have what it takes these days to stick around and take care of home, afterall it is club time, or too easy to go to the next and create a family there. This overwhelming trend is running rampant especially in the black community. If the family unit collapses so does the amount of money and people working to better their families. It is time for the parents to step up and teach their children to work hard, to take care of their families, and to stick around. I watched a congressional meeting on education and was overwhelmed at the news that Michigan spends more money for Corrections versus the money it spends on education, even our state has given up hope for our children. Instead of investing in families it is investing in a place to lock them away. Even when looking more closely at the scholarship Michigan provides for children that recieve Medicaid benefits to attend college, they are only provided enough to get a two year degree. So it is like Michigan is saying to these children that were born, raised and taught a life of poverty, " why bother trying? even if you do make it to school, your only capable of obtaining an associates degree anyways". Yes I do tend to believe it is more in the black population this exists and yes I do believe this is an aged old tradition, I also believe if the poverty level community was made to feel and have a can do attitude, we would see a rise in better educated parents in a stable home life raising healthier happier more productive people.

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  26. I agree with Fenton, he is right to say that it starts with the family structure. I do not agree with Jake Johnson at all, maybe in his world he lives in a post racial society, but in the rest of the worl we are far from it. Being a multi racial person myself I even see in this area alone the past prejudices are alive and kicking today, while yes it may have went from a loud cry to a hushed whisper, I assure you it is still around.

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  27. I think that we have made huge progress in changing the racial views of our society and a very large proprtion of our country is very welcoming to different races and people in general. However, I think that there are still (unfortunately) some places that are very racial. My hometown is very "country" and people there are still hugely racist and make many stupid remarks. I have also visited a few places in the south which still have the same views. I think the election of Obama is definitely a great symbolism of the changes our country has made though.

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  28. I agree with John Kronquist, Fenton, acarrenes. The family is (hopefully) the structure in our lives. What we take from there, is what we build our life on.

    I don't agree with those attributing America's problems to single mothers. I'm living proof of that, and yes there is bias. I live it everyday. Knowing the tolerance, understanding, and negotiation I teach my daughter everyday, will round her as an individual.
    Yes, The nation as a whole is suffering from individuals who are "lazy" parents, who maybe shouldn't be parents...but we can only hope the only thing that will eventually filter those children with the rest of their generation (our public schools) will contain the educators of our generation who desire tolerance and understanding. Giving the children who haven't grown up learning it, an introduction to a life free of ignorance.

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  29. I once heard a comedian say that he laughed when people told him that we were one black president away from being over racism in this country. He jokingly commented that we were about 43 black presidents in a row from being over racism. While intended as a joke I think he does make a good point. While 43 in a row is a little excessive and unrealistic, I do think that the day we elect a black president and noone makes a big deal over the fact that he is black is the day racism will be a thing of the past.

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  30. I agree with Jake, Electing one black president in the History of the
    US is historic and important, but if we dont elect another African American president in the next 200 years we would just be setting back the clock.

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  31. I think Jake Greer is exactly right. Electing a black president by no means inherently shows that we have made racial progress. Maybe Obama was elected because people actually believe he will bring about "real change," or maybe white guilt, or maybe because people were scared of McCain and his thousand years in Iraq, or maybe because Obama is just a really good speaker, regardless of what he actually says (this is my guess). Whatever it is the only way we can live in a post-racial society is if Dr. King's dream is realized, where people are judged solely by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, which won't happen for a very long time, if it ever does happen, especially when the media and many others make a big deal about how he's the first black president. Additionally, one would be hard pressed to convince me that race was not an issue in the election, whether it factored into people voting for or against him.

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  32. The poverty epidemic of African Americans under 5 can be partly due to the area which they live. Many African American families live in big cities where there are only so many jobs; and not necessarily good paying jobs and their parents skills in the job market may be lacking and cost of living currently may have put a burden on this problem.

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  33. I agree with some of what Paulie Alto said. But I disagree in terms of job opportunities. In many cases racism works in reverse in that white men and women are denied the opportunity of a job because a business needs to make a certain quota of black or hispanic workers. This is especially true in big cities and the suburbs around them. I think that racism works in both ways, and while it is much improved from 40 years ago, I think we are a long way from the end.

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  34. If the definition of a post racial society is a society in which racism does not exist then no, we do not and we never will live in a post racial society. If the definition is that the vast majority of the populace is not racist then yes, I think we are in a post racial society and I think we have been for probably my entire life (I'm 23). The election of President Obama proves only that the majority of those who voted in the election are not racist, not that we live in a state of complete racial harmony; even if you are a person who chooses to accept the premise (I am not) that racism ran rampant in this country right up until November of 2008.

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  35. Of course we do not live in a post racial society. If society were post racial, we would not even consider zeroing in on statistics of these children as African American. We would obviously just collectively categorize as "children."

    Why these children are poor may not even have a racial context to it, but rather an economic one. Instead of looking at racism as the cause, why not consider the economic plight of these individuals.

    I realized that President Obama was black, but this had no significance as to why I voted for him. It is a foolish notion to think racism will ever go away. Views have changed along the lines of racial bigotry, and racial superiority. A very welcome improvement.

    It is nonsense to think we will no longer observe the differences between other humans.

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  36. My thoughts go along the line of those of Kayleigh Sprears.

    I stongly disagree with Paulie Alto said of the "elite power base" theory. If they were all that powerful, we would be consulting with these people about economic crisis.

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  37. I do not think that we live in a post racial society. I think that electing Barack Obama was a big step, but clearly we do not live in a racist free society or Obama would not be receiving death threats just because he is black. I think that a lot of the younger voters live in their own post racial society which is what helped Obama get elected. But the older member of society that grew up knowing nothing but racism have not changed. Maybe one day we will be able to have a post racial society, but I do not think that that is the case now and we still have a long way to go.

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  38. "Whether you describe it as the dawning of a post-racial age or just the end of white America, we’re approaching a profound demographic tipping point. According to an August 2008 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, those groups currently categorized as racial minorities—blacks and Hispanics, East Asians and South Asians—will account for a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2042. Among Americans under the age of 18, this shift is projected to take place in 2023, which means that every child born in the United States from here on out will belong to the first post-white generation."
    -The End of White America? by Hua Hsu

    http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/end-of-whiteness

    it is a VERY interesting and well-written article - worth checking out. It also talks about the Great Gatsby, which is one of my favorite books.

    I think that those who study other cultures and truly seek to understand them, will learn to operate in a diverse world and will succeed. Those who do not adapt will not possess the communication skills to appeal to the majority, and will most likely not succeed.

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  39. i dont think we'll ever be able to say that were a completely post racial society. racism goes both ways, and its not just black and white. so barack obama becoming president could actually cause more problems, remember there had already been people plotting on killin him. thats not saying that he shouldn't have run. its nice to say that we are going in the right direction tho. we going forward and we can only hope that race one day will be no more important than eye color.

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  40. I agree with FentonS. They said that racism still exists because of the older generations still exists. In a few more generations I believe we can safely say we will be well on our way to a post racist society. Racism will never disappear. But there are some things we can do to help eliminate it. I agree that education is the key. It usually is.

    P.S. Something to think about. What if Obama is a bad President? Will that hurt future non-white presidents? Will it increase racism? This is a big burden for one man. I Hope none of the above are true.

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  42. “53% Obama, 46% McCain”
    As Chelsea said before there results were too close for there to be a full blown “Post Racial Society” There were people who voted for McCain solely because they don’t want to serve under a black president. I don’t know who remembers quite all of the election results, but most of the South voted for McCain. Is this much of a surprise and isn’t History slightly repeating itself? And as alajoye said about the quy, whom was asking farmers about Obama and giving such comments as “I don’t want a N***** as my president” there’s always going to be these ignorant and uneducated people that walk through life in a racist plastic bubble, whom are thinking of themselves as superior to black people for some mysterious reason. The racism is passed on with the generations and sadly there are even a few people our age who think this way. Some see crime statistics and assume that black people are naturally violent. And yes It’s terrible how people look at crime statistics and label them with race, but it happens. Perhaps we are moving toward a post racial society, but we aren’t all there yet

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  43. I agree with what t mills said " I don't think that we will ever be able to say we are a completely post racial society". Racism does go both ways, whites can be racist against blacks too. I think now that we have a black president, a lot of black people think they have all the power and look down on white people. I also agree with t mills on the fact that we are going in the right direction and we can only hope to keep that going. I just hope that Obama does a good job as president, because if not that will just set him up for people to say he is struggling because he is black. All we can do is hope for the best!

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  44. I too, like many others, do not believe that we are in a "post-racial society". Racism and racial issues are a matter which must be viewed on a continuum. There is not true measure of the most or least racist society; nor a measure for a "post-racial society". Obama's victory was a huge move forward for the elimination of race based issues but by no means have we maxed out our potential for progress. I would argue that we are in a more racial society but in more positive terms. Many factors including the election turned America's attention to continuing racial issues and the continued need for the advancement and equality of races. I think this focus on race is positive and will help lead towards a less-racial society.

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  46. In response to Alissa Pacaitis....
    Isn't it possible that the south went for McCain because it usually goes to the most conservative presidential candidate, and not because everyone in the south, didn't as the man quoted above said, "want a N***** as their president"? Were there people who felt and voted that way? Of course there were, there will always be stupidity in the world. But what you’ve overlooked is the fact that there were quite a few fundamental differences between the two candidates that had nothing to do with skin color. If you think that the south went for McCain because people in the south are racist, why not just say that everyone who voted for John McCain was a racist. Am I a racist because I didn’t vote for President Obama? Isn’t it possible that maybe I voted FOR John McCain and not AGAINST President Obama’s skin color? By this logic, couldn’t I make the assertion that somehow everyone who voted for President Obama hates white people? How is the lumping together and writing off of essentially all farmers and people from the south as ignorant racists and backwards rednecks any more acceptable than one person hating another because of their skin color?

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  47. We have come a long way with racism and I do believe that electing Obama was a big step for America. But I would say that we definitely do not live in a post racial society. There is still a lot going on, and think that as sad as it is, it will always be around to haunt us. People will always be ignorant, selfish, and hurtful. There is nothing we can do to stop it.

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  48. I agree with above statements in concern to poverty and the decline of strong families. There are a multitude of factors for disparities amongst races besides racist attitudes. There are many factors that go into the reasons for the gaps in education, healthcare, and employment amongst the demographics. Racist attitudes and prejudices may have placed certain groups in a more disadvantaged position in the past, but now as we progress into a less racial society we need to address the institutions themselves that need repair.

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  49. This is in response to jtn's comment on Feb. 22.
    There is undoubtedly an elite group of very rich an very powerful people controlling our country, or an "elite power base" if you will.
    Not only are these people not consulting the country on our economic crisis, but they are the very ones who put us here.
    Our country in not broke because all the money has been given away, but because somebody has made it, or I would go as far as to say taken it.
    The recession we are experiencing is result of a enormous consolidation of wealth into a very few hands.

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  50. I do not agree with the idea that because a black man was elected president, we are now living in a post racial society. There are other races than just white and black. I do believe that we are on a good track to racial acceptance among the majority of people living in our nation. I am excited that this is occurring and cant wait for more Americans to jump on the bandwagon.

    Erasing of racial identity should not be the goal but the acceptance of it by different races is what we should as humans be striving for. Our racial identities make us unique and along with our life experiences allow us to bring different ideas to the table for the betterment of mankind.

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