I agree that this question is so spectacularly vague and open to multiple interpretation that it makes the poll’s results pretty much meaningless. And it’s not at all surprising that few blacks answer affirmatively relative to whites. Whites are more likely to believe that race is a non-issue. The reason for this is pretty obvious.
Nope. According to the article, those 24% are typically black elderly females with a low level of education. The question asked wasn’t “are YOU ready” but “is the USA ready?”. So, the nay sayers don’t seem to be people who wouldn’t vote for Obama but rather people who think that other people wouldn’t vote for him.
Exactly so. A negative response to the question is not necessarily an indicator of racism but of how the respondant feels the rest of the country would react to a black President. I have a sense that black people take the possibility of an assassination attempt on Barack Obama more seriously than white people. I have even heard some people say they are afraid to vote for Obama because they fear for the life of a black man taking the oath of office. It’s long been rumored that the reason Colin Powell hasn’t run is because his wife is afraid of assassination attempts. This is still a fear that runs deep, especially in the black community.
I think that if the question were phrased more along the lines of “Do you think a black person is just as capable of runnng the country as a white person,” You’d see affirmative answers in the high 90’s.
So- the larger percentage of black people who respond that the US is not “ready” for a black president- do they secretly mean that they would not vote for a black person for president?
Possibly. He does not have 100 percent of blacks in back of him. I will not ascribe all of their motives. But ,it could be some just feel it is not the right time or he is not the right man.
The crucial question is whether the Democratic Party is ready for a black nominee. Interesting article on the Clinton campaign’s use of the “Race Chasm”:
But why? Not only does this interpretion assume the worse about people for no good reason, its just really far-fetched.
A racist person is not going to suggest that it is America that isn’t ready for a black president, because that would suggest that the problem lies with America and not black folks. My intuition tells me a racist person is more likely to believe that it’s black people who aren’t ready to be president.
Or it could be that your interpretation of their answer is just completely off the freakin’ mark. Since Obama is racking in greater than 90% of the black vote now, I’m leaning towards my theory.
The poll doesn’t say they would vote for Obama and it also doesn’t say 24% would not vote for a black person. It says 24% believe it won’t happen which is their opinion on how others will vote. There’s a difference.
Someone who goes to Rev Wright’s church would be told that whites run the world. It would make sense that a person filled with this nonsense believes white people won’t vote for a black president.
Because it is. The person most likely to win the Presidential election this November is a black man.
The world’s best and most popular golfer (a traditionally white sport) is Tiger Woods, a black man.
The world’s most popular television personality is Oprah, a black woman.
The world’s biggest movie star is Will Smith, a black man.
You can sit around all day and bitch that these ideas don’t matter because these people are only famous because of “entertainment” like sports and Hollywood. But it goes a long way towards showing what people will accept when excellence is involved.
No, I’m saying that these people are at the top of their field and that their continued success and excellence in said fields will…
Show people that black people can “make it.”
Allow them to use their wealth to help other black people succeed. Look at Oprah’s school in Africa or (others I didn’t list) people like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson who are using the money they made in their playing careers to become business tycoons.
White people might have most of the power, but to say that they have all the power is equally absurd.
White people have always had all essential, power, ok? It is hardly “nonsense” to say that white people have always run the country.
Now, that is changing and we may be on the cusp of a truly post-racial society, but it’s still a historical truth that whites have always run things and it was absurd for Magiver to suggest that Wright’s parishionors are “filled with nonsense” for having heard him say that. Barack Obama was correct in saying that Wright’s mistake was not in his evaluation of history but in his pessimism about the future (or even the present).