This is my first diary. It is neither as well written nor as succinct as it could be, but allow me to vent.
These are my thoughts on the issue of race in the campaign and the notion that blacks support Obama because he is black or because of black pride.
I am a woman. I am black. I am proud of Obama because he seems genuinely engaged in important issues. I'm proud of his community organizing, his level head and his message of change and hope. I'm proud that he chose not to deny his black Kenyan heritage even though his father abandoned him. I'm proud of the way his campaign is being run.
I'm proud that a half white, half black man, a Christian with a Moslem father and family ties from east to west has emerged as a unifier and a positive symbol already influencing change internationally even without direct negotiation. I'm proud that he has precipitated a much needed, long ignored discussion on race.
You see, I'm proud and excited that Barack Hussein Obama is ALL of us. In him, I see not only the hopes of black children, but also the hopes of Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, indigenous and white children. I see how he excites and propels an 82 year old woman like Jean Weiss into action.
I'm proud that we the people are the power behind his campaign. I'm proud of his acknowledgment that he works for us. I'm proud that Obama's unprecedented campaign frightens those in the establishment who want to maintain the status quo.
Up until a few months ago, I was a HUGE Clinton supporter as were many blacks who only started to take a closer look at Obama after Iowa. Ironically, I would get into arguments with pro Obama white friends in which I would use many of the talking points of Hillary voters - It's time for a woman, the Clintons have experience, Obama should wait.
When I saw the video where it looked like he snubbed Hillary on the senate floor, I thought he was rude and a complete a-hole. I was not impressed. The Clintons had me. I had been in their corner for over a decade and I was not budging.
Then their campaign strategy started to unravel through diabolical chess moves which caused me to pause and to listen closely without prejudice. The rest as they say...
I resent the implication that blacks support Obama just based on melanin. It is highly insulting and assumes that blacks, for example, would support Alan Keyes over Hillary were such a match up to occur.
In the beginning there were blacks who were wary of Obama whom they viewed as an outsider not deserving of being the first African American president, because he did not have ancestors who were slaves and he had not been vetted. I still hear such rumblings from a few black intellectuals.
The Clintons screwed up big time. They have squandered much of the good will that they had in the black community. I will not support any candidate, black or otherwise, who talks about obliterating a country with innocent men, women and children. I support Obama because his values are closest to mine.
Blacks overwhelmingly and passionately worship a pale skinned white dude with blue eyes called Jesus (at least that's how he's been depicted -Well, there's this BBC story.)
If it were merely an issue of race, blacks should be followers of Islam because many Moslems have darker skin than the Jesus dude as we have come to know him. I realize this might sound ridiculous, but it isn't any more so than the preposterous supposition that blacks overwhelmingly support a candidate based on skin color.
Jean Weiss: 'Bring us up higher than that.'
Maya Ng-Soetoro speaks beautifully and lovingl about her big brother and the nuances of who he is as a person and as a candidate.
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