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Hope alive for nerd like me ("I voted for Barack Obama because of his skin color")
The Waco Tribune-Herald ^ | 6/13/09 | Chris Scott

Posted on 06/14/2009 4:32:36 PM PDT by LA Woman3

The realization recently hit: I voted for Barack Obama because of his skin color.

For a thoughtful, responsible voter, the admission was mildly jarring. Not that I regret having done it. I couldn’t be more proud.

I’ve never based my vote on superficial matters. I voted on the mandate, never the man (or woman).

Now I must admit that I mainly voted for Obama because he is black, like me.

This is not to say I didn’t like what he articulated for our sagging economy, our schools and for organizing the chaos of the Iraq war. But I have to admit that Obama’s race was important. He represents symbolic change in how our society perceives people like me.

The widespread image of black culture in America is discouraging. A Stanford University study last year found that 40 percent of white Americans polled held at least partly negative views about us.

Given a choice of positive and negative adjectives to describe blacks, 29 percent said “complaining” applied. Twenty percent said “violent.” Thirteen percent said “lazy.” Eleven percent said “irresponsible.”

And I certainly do not believe that most whites are racists. Rather, images of blacks in the mainstream media condition people of all colors to think, if not the worst, then certainly not the best about us.

Blacks don’t always help dispel these images. Examine our own culture and pop culture: Crayons in fist, we often draw, and then salute, a socially crippling caricature.

And so: Blacks make up roughly 11 percent of the population, but in the prison population they’re more than 44 percent.

Nationally, 93 percent of black men murdered annually will die at the hands of another black man. And more than 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock.

Obama’s presidency can change so much.

Growing up in Tyler, I was nerdy. Worse, I wasn’t coordinated enough to succeed in where most African-Americans in my community got recognized: sports.

My dream? Not to be a pro jock but to be president. It sounded outrageous as to draw laughs. “You’re crazy,” my stepfather retorted. “America is never going to elect a black man president.”

For whites, Obama’s historic achievement occasions for them a chance to see and experience a side of black culture that runs counter to stereotypes. For blacks, it gives us a chance to rewrite our collective narrative.

I’m not so naïve as to think this president is the elixir to cure America’s race problems. I’m acutely aware of those who still face the deep-cutting sword of systematic oppression.

So I temper my hopes. But those hopes are now realistic — and largely because of this historic election. It officially has placed America on a path to fulfill and protect the boldest assertion of our founding principles, “That all men are created equal.”

That is why I voted for Barack Obama. It may seem superficial, vain, even pathetic. But it is change that I believe in.

Chris Scott, a 2004 graduate of Baylor University and a former candidate for the Waco city council, is pursuing a Master’s of Divinity degree at Princeton Theological Seminary.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bho44; blackpresident; blacks; democrats; halfrican; hopeychangey; obama; sodidcolinpowell
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1 posted on 06/14/2009 4:32:36 PM PDT by LA Woman3
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To: LA Woman3

2 posted on 06/14/2009 4:34:25 PM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: LA Woman3

Another case where someone decided to take the red pill instead of the blue pill.


3 posted on 06/14/2009 4:34:54 PM PDT by ak267
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To: LA Woman3

Rare someone admits to being a racist.

But then again, almost everyone who voted for the TOTUS-reader was a racist, since skin color is the only qualification he has.


4 posted on 06/14/2009 4:36:04 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: LA Woman3

Right.

And if I as a white man voted for a white man for president, I’d be called a “racist”.

And I’m glad that although our country is headed down the $h!tter on the world stage, at least we’re being led by a black man fighting for homosexual marriage....


5 posted on 06/14/2009 4:36:45 PM PDT by Tzimisce (Socialism is the worst kind of Pollution.)
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To: LA Woman3; Victoria Delsoul; SkyDancer
I’ve never based my vote on superficial matters. I voted on the mandate, never the man (or woman).

Ummm... Chris... you just did.

6 posted on 06/14/2009 4:37:17 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: LA Woman3

This person needs to take a long hard look at the new “post racial” America. Where all whites are now racist no matter who they voted for.


7 posted on 06/14/2009 4:37:19 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: LA Woman3; Victoria Delsoul; SkyDancer
I’ve never based my vote on superficial matters. I voted on the mandate, never the man (or woman).

Ummm... Chris... you just did.

8 posted on 06/14/2009 4:37:23 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: LA Woman3
Now I must admit that I mainly voted for Obama because he is black, like me.

Sorry, genius, he's not black. According to the U.S. Census way of determining these things, he's Arabic.

9 posted on 06/14/2009 4:37:37 PM PDT by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: freedumb2003

He’s not admitting that he’s a racist so much as he’s admitting that he’s stupid, and proud of it.


10 posted on 06/14/2009 4:38:02 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: LA Woman3

Liberals: it’s all about feeelings.


11 posted on 06/14/2009 4:38:08 PM PDT by upchuck (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office.)
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To: LA Woman3

“Obama’s presidency can change so much.”

Hey, Chris, could you please provide a list of things you expect Obama to cdhange? And describe how exactly he will effect that change.

Thanks.


12 posted on 06/14/2009 4:38:44 PM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless, indisputable, and unambiguous clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
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To: LA Woman3
Obama’s presidency can change so much.

Like.......what, exactly?

13 posted on 06/14/2009 4:39:14 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater ("Get out of the boat and walk on the water with us!”--Sen. Joe Biden)
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To: LA Woman3
He represents symbolic change in how our society perceives people like me.

Barry is doing a poor job of it.

14 posted on 06/14/2009 4:41:15 PM PDT by razorback-bert (We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.)
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To: LA Woman3

I’m sorry to the writer of this piece but IMHO Obma has set back race relations a decade not to mention that he is screwing up so badly that I’m starting to wonder at 48yo if I will ever see another black be trusted enough to ever be elected to the executive branch again?


15 posted on 06/14/2009 4:41:15 PM PDT by chris_bdba
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To: LA Woman3

In fairness though, how many Irish Catholics voted for JFK because he was an Irish Catholic? Or how many women voted for Hillary Clinton because she was a woman?


16 posted on 06/14/2009 4:41:51 PM PDT by garbanzo (Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem.)
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To: LA Woman3

My one hope with Obama was that he might do something to shift black culture away from crime and illegitimacy, by inspiration. I don’t think he’s said a single word in that direction since he was elected.


17 posted on 06/14/2009 4:42:25 PM PDT by heartwood
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To: LA Woman3

I’m not sure what is worse, voting based on skin color or voting to get more pie at the expense of your fellow citizens. In the last election voting for Zero based on substance was not possible based on the empty suit, and empty record.


18 posted on 06/14/2009 4:42:55 PM PDT by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.)
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To: LA Woman3

I sometimes pity the black people that voted for Obama, because when all is said and done, Obama will be the worst president this country has ever known. It really is unfortunate.


19 posted on 06/14/2009 4:43:20 PM PDT by penelopesire ("The only CHANGE you will get with the Democrats is the CHANGE left in your pocket")
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To: LA Woman3

Barf Alert?

Hey Chris, you will find out how people think about blacks like you when the man you voted for leads us down the shitter. Obama might be the worst thing that ever happened to blacks. He still has not proven that he is eligible to BE President!


20 posted on 06/14/2009 4:44:10 PM PDT by BatGuano
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