Obama victory will prolong US racial divide...

[carpro]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3451323.ece

Obama victory will prolong US racial divide, says British equality chief

EXCERPT

One of Britain’s most influential black figures today accused Barack Obama of cynically exploiting America’s racial divide and gave warning that he could prolong, rather than heal the rift.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, claimed that the Democratic front-runner would ultimately disappoint the African-American community and dismissed the notion that he would be "the harbinger of a post-racial America" if he becomes the country’s first black President.

Writing in Prospect, the monthly current affairs magazine, Mr Phillips suggested that guilt over transatlantic slavery was behind Mr Obama’s support from middle class whites.

 

[Baptist Believer]

Mr Phillips suggested that guilt over transatlantic slavery was behind Mr Obama’s support from middle class whites.

Really? Is that it?

Middle class whites can't appreciate someone on the basis of the content of their character, their ideas and beliefs, and their personality?

Yeah, whatever...

 

[Dagwood]

Wow? Carpro caring about what Europeans think! Couldn't you find enough dirt here in the U.S. to throw at Obama?

 

[carpro]

Wow? Carpro caring about what Europeans think! Couldn't you find enough dirt here in the U.S. to throw at Obama?

I wasn't aware that Mr. Phillips' opinion was throwing "dirt".

Maybe you should write him and tell him to keep his "dirty" opinions about Obama to himself.

 

[KenH]

I have no doubt that more than a few Republicans and their allies in other countries will be playing the race card to the hilt in a general election vs. Senator Obama. It's all they know how to do any more to try to win elections - race baiting and fear mongering. They are despicable and their actions are unChristian.

 

[TomVols]

And let's not forget that Hillary and Bill got the ball rolling in SC against Obama. So the GOP hardly has the market cornered here.

 

[KenH]

Yes, the Clintons and the Republicans - what a team. :laugh:

 

[TomVols]

Yes, the Clintons and the Republicans - what a team. :laugh:

Hardly a team. But to say that they sometimes sing from the same hymnal is not an overstatement. The Clinton machine is one of the best at fear-mongering. The Dems have perfected the art. But tsome elements of the GOP are catching on as well

 

[carpro]

I have no doubt that more than a few Republicans and their allies in other countries will be playing the race card to the hilt in a general election vs. Senator Obama. It's all they know how to do any more to try to win elections - race baiting and fear mongering. They are despicable and their actions are unChristian.

Right or wrong, I find Mr. Phillips take on this subject interesting.

He's black and, being English, he doesn't have a dog in this fight.

To charecterize him as an ally of republicans is , I believe, the dishonest knee jerk reaction of one who is afraid of the subject of race.

Especially now, with a black man running for president.

 

[Filmproducer]

Considering that in his own country he is considered far right and his appointment was opposed by black organizations in his own country it is NOT a "knee-jerk" reaction to equate him to US republicans.

His claims are ridiculous IMO.

 

[carpro]

Considering that in his own country he is considered far right and his appointment was opposed by black organizations in his own country it is NOT a "knee-jerk" reaction to equate him to US republicans.

His claims are ridiculous IMO.

I expect so.

 

[targus]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3451323.ece

Obama victory will prolong US racial divide, says British equality chief...

The other side of the coin is that an Obama loss will also prolong a racial divide.

No doubt a loss by the first Black Presidential candidate will be seen as a stolen election by many disappointed supporters.

Remember the reaction when Gore lost?

Only this one would be much worse since there is the additional emotionalism due to the racial factor.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Race

I am currently in Europe and have talked to quite a number here about Obama. They simply cannot overcome their own prejudice about the racial predudice in Ameria. Thus, they simply cannot understand how Obama has gotten so many votes from [gasp] white people. It is very baffling to them. I believe this says much more about the prejudices of Europeans than it does of Americans. So I will never be surprised at a statement that began this thread and I take that statement with a huge grain of salt.

It is common knowledge in many European cities that any dark skinned person walking on the street at night runs a much higher probability of being confonted and harmed than a fair skinned person.

Interestingly I have yet to hear a European say, "Yes, I am prejudice." I have hear many give reasons they do not like dark skinned people and it is the same "reasons" I heard about African American when I was a kid growing up in the South.

One big difference I find between Amreican culture and European culture is that Americans admid there is a problem and it is being worked on. I have yet to hear any European say that Europe has a prejudice problem:tonofbricks:

 

[Palatka51]

The other side of the coin is that an Obama loss will also prolong a racial divide.

No doubt a loss by the first Black Presidential candidate will be seen as a stolen election by many disappointed supporters.

Remember the reaction when Gore lost?

Only this one would be much worse since there is the additional emotionalism due to the racial factor.

Yes, I can just hear it now. "The angry white male has reared his ugly head and spoken."

 

[KenH]

No doubt a loss by the first Black Presidential candidate will be seen as a stolen election by many disappointed supporters.

There is no doubt that the Republican Party will attempt to suppress the voter turnout in states such as Ohio in November.

 

[Palatka51]

There is no doubt that the Republican Party will attempt to suppress the voter turnout in states such as Ohio in November.

Oh and don't for get the hanging chads in Florida. That was a real underhanded Republican trick. So underhanded that it made the Democratic controlled voting prescients of Dade County look plum silly.

 

[KenH]

In 2000 then Vice President Al Gore did his own campaign in by not carrying his home state of Tennessee.

 

[Magnetic Poles]

Hardly a team. But to say that they sometimes sing from the same hymnal is not an overstatement. The Clinton machine is one of the best at fear-mongering. The Dems have perfected the art. But tsome elements of the GOP are catching on as well

The Bush Administration perfected it, with things like the the pointless color code, and instructions to buy plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal your house. Of course before that the GOP played the fear and race card at one blow with the Lee Atwater "Willie Horton" ads.

Anyone who fears an Obama presidency because of his color has admitted their racism.

 

[rbell]

There is no doubt that the Republican Party will attempt to suppress the voter turnout in states such as Ohio in November.

Proof, please?

 

[targus]

There is no doubt that the Republican Party will attempt to suppress the voter turnout in states such as Ohio in November.

I've heard of charges from both parties concerning voter suppression...

As I recall the most recent charge was from Bill Clinton claiming that the Obama campaign was suppressing the vote...

But I find it difficult to conceptualize how exactly someone suppresses voting in our current times.

I can imagine past times when a police presence outside of a voting place may have surpressed the black vote in the deep south - but not in this day and age.

What tactics would one employ to surpress the voters of the opposition?

Absent a means to do it, the charge sounds like a silly throwback.