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I often read, in Salon Letters and elsewhere, that African American support of Barack Obama, which is supposedly at 95%, is inherently racist and, therefore, any criticism of the residual racism evident in White small town America, which is notably smaller than 95%, is inherently unfair. What is never mentioned is long-standing Black support for the Democratic party since the days of FDR. What is rarely mentioned is the fact that the Republicans have little to offer African Americans and have made little effort to change that perception. But, what I resent, as a Black person who will vote for Obama, is the implication that we have somehow missed the disaster of the Bush administration and the 12 years of Republican dominance in Congress (before the 2006 coup)and that we have not also been moved and inspired, as many White people have been moved and inspired, by the passion, brilliance and vision of the Senator from Illinois. No, the seemingly comfortable assumption is that we Black folks are going to vote for him simply because he is Black.
Make no mistake. I am very excited (in a cautious concern for his life way) and amazed that a Black man has moved the nation in the way that Obama has. Senator Obama's socio-political ascension is so unprecedented as to make words like "unprecedented" wholly inadequate. But I seriously doubt if that alleged 95% African American voting bloc is so blinded by his skin color it ignores the platform on which his candidacy stands. Still, I recognize it is, somehow, much easier to think of us as a one-note, monolithic, melanin-bound people who would never consider the issues of a presidential campaign, just as I recognize that racism isn't relegated to small towns.
OBAMA 2008
