"...another of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as your were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfie; they were relieved such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time.''
This extract from Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father which I have just re-read, now finding things more significant than I did at the first reading when, frankly, I was simply seduced by the beautiful prose and the man's impressive eloquence.
This time round, it is a frightening story of racial anger.
I think my biggest cringe was at mention of a girl who took a job nannying for a family in Hawaii. Apparently the girl was black and the family was not. Hence, for the girl, the job was deeply degrading.
When her employers dared to love her and think of her as part of the family, apparently the insult was all the worse. Oh, my.
I don't want to, but I find myself harking on about racial anger.
Why does being black make a job more degrading than it does for a white or hispanic or Asian? Is a job not a job?
I tell ya, a man bringing these views to the Whitehouse is quite a worry.
What a bloody mess,
This is the last thing I expected when the primaries got up and running last year.
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Unfortunately a job is not just a job, regardless of race. Having worked the service industry in many capacities, in many areas of America, the racial reality is there.
As a white woman I got more respect, better pay and the opportunity to move upward faster than if I had been any other race. Education obviously makes a difference. It's a surprise in America when anyone, from any race other than white is articulate and well-spoken. Of course that is a VAST generalization, many times untrue, thank god, but the point being, overall racism is alive and well in America.
Note the comments from many West Virginian voters about being unwilling to vote for a black man (or a black woman, I'd guess) regardless of quailifications.
Hate to say it, but it is the sad reality. Why do the demographics turn up as they do in the voters' patterns - educated middle/upper class (to not coin a phrase we say doesn't exist in America) - Obama. Hillary gets those less educated, less financially well off. Again, a generalization, but a statistically valid one; it says something where her appeal lies most, and is most cultivated...how many of her tribe in the US have access to vast amounts of information for comparing the two candidates? Or the background to even try?
I'll be very glad when West Virgina is left behind in this contest. Not because Clinton won, but because it pulls up the dregs (racism, poverty, ignorance) of America and somehow paints them as all right. There is nothing right about any of the above, regardless of politics and how those running use the issues. It will be interesting how the winning candidate actually addresses those voters post election (and if I hear one more Clinton or Obama fan say if one or the other doesn't win they are voting for McCain, I'm going to scream).
MJ
Culebra, PR
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