AMERICAN
RESPONSES TO “OBAMA AND MY SON”:
(FROM
W.R.:
With all due respect, I too wish it was a post-racial
nation, but I don't think we are there.
Turn on the TV and watch the candidates and how they pursue the votes.
The candidates are courting and the media is counting votes by gender and
ethnicity.
And nobody seems to quarrel with the whole idea of forming hyphenated-American
political groups along racial lines. Just one example: LA RAZA is Spanish for
THE RACE. Can you imagine if a bunch of white guys started a group with a name
like that, and the candidates were lining up to court their votes? 1930's
Dr. King dreamed of a color blind society. So do I.
We're not there yet.
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A.C.:
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Q.R.:
Whites are just as racial as ever. Especially the above 30
generation. A post racial nation, please! Whites would like to think the
playing field is even, but it is anything but.
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H.R.:
The problem with many minorities is that they still like to
blame everyone else for their problems instead of taking it upon themselves to
rise above the crowd. It is always easiest to blame others...
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A.A.:
This is the first time I've actually seen such ideas
explicitly expressed in the national media, for which Mohammed Ali Salih
deserves great credit. It's something I've recognized for a very long time
now. And it took a few decades in
coming; anyone with their eyes open could see it. He is absolutely correct, or
rather, his children are.
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W.S.:
This is a fundamental change, and it has already happened. There is no turning
back on this one. And frankly, I've been waiting all my life for it. Obama's candidacy is merely the final touch on a social
change which has at last been realized. As a Jamaican-born, polyglot,
multiracial American with a Czech mother, mulatto grandfather, and a Hindu
nephew and niece who speak Spanish at home, I am looking forward to voting for
a half-Kenyan from
It's our turn now.
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T.K.:
I agree with the son's sentiments. I've been saying this
for 30 years. Unfortunately, it's not a realistic view. Racists are no longer
the problem. Most of them are too ashamed to show their face. No, the problem
is what I call "racialism," i.e. the tendency among large groups of
the population to view every issue that confronts the nation through the prism
of race. This breeds a new kind of racism, the one that pits yellow, black,
white, red and brown against each other in a racial identity contest.
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D.R. (From
Salih’s views are admirable as far as they go in
wanting to get along in a mixed race society. But he, like many other Muslims,
totally misses the point in regard to what made
The multiculturalism he advocates would never work in
his country of origin and he knows it.
Mr. Salih will never admit the failures of Islam or
the utter inapplicability of creating a multi-cultural society out of
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A.N.:
ALL groups are racists. Hispanics pick Hispanics,
Whites choose Whites, and here in
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A.C.:
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T.L.P.:
That was a wonderful story. Your boy sounds like he's got a
good head on his shoulders. (If you don't count the vote for Obama). Welcome to
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