“I never thought I’d live to see this day…” is a statement I’ve heard numerous times on tv by interviewed men-on-the-street of certain pigment.
I always think in response, “That’s good. Since you won’t live to see it again.”
We have not entered the age in which African vs European ancestry no longer matters. Quite the contrary! Obama’s African ancestry mattered very much, especially to those making statement’s like the title of this thread.
But now it’s done. We’ve had our “black” president. The question, “Is it possible for America to have a black president?” has been answered and we don’t have to “worry about it” any more.
So I predict you won’t see another one for a long, long time. Multiple decades at least. Probably not until the day arrives in which one’s ethnicity really DOESN’T matter.
I am neither gloating nor bemoaning the fact. Simply putting it out there.
we had our Catholic president; that’s done. Now we’ve had our black president. Next (but not right away) we’ll get a woman president and then (if the Israel situation ever settles down) a Jewish president, and then you’ll never see another one of those again either.
So if this sort of thing matters to you, enjoy it while you can.
This thread made me think of Colbert’s show last night… They showed at least 10 clips of various journalists asking older Black people, “did you ever think you’d live to see this…” and the resultant t-shirt that says, “Yes, I thought I’d live to see this day”. ROFL
I tend do disagree. I think seeing a black man take presidency and a woman not far behind shows a shift in Americas voting demographic.
Tom Brokaw answered the question “How did a black man become president?” by throwing out a dividing line based on age. The age was ~40 years-old. He claims people younger than 40 are more color blind, tolerant, and grew up experiencing a mixed race society. People over 40 still cling to their race, are less tolerant of differences, and grew up with those prejudices.
Every election that dividing line will move 4 years (age 44 in 2012) and the under 44 crowd will grow and the over 44 crowd will shrink. And the under 44 crowd will continue to become more mixed, color blind, tolerant.
I think in decades to come sex, race, and religion will become less a big deal and people from any background will be able to run and will be judged more on personal factors and positions and less on their demographic category.
I think when you hear that statement from people-of-a-certain-pigment who are also, you know, really old…they’re making a completely different point than what you’re assuming they mean. They already know they’re never going to see it again because most of them are brushing up against death. And I don’t think any of them think that the next 5 elections are going to be won by black men.
If you are 60, 70, 80 years old as a minority or a woman…or hell…as a person…this election was unprecedented because of the breadth of the change in historical attitudes you’ve personally witnessed. Think about what people that age have seen compared to us younger folk. They may have personally experienced segregation. Many older ethnic minorities in this country were born under colonial rule.
At least everyone in my family knows that when you’re a minority, you have to be superlative to be given a chance at the traditional fonts of power. This applies to any powerful profession-if you’re an attorney you have to be among the best and most hardworking and politically astute to be a female, black, asian, gay partner at a large law firm. How many women or minorities do you see in the top ranks of private equity, investment banking or hedge funds?
The difference between these professions and the presidency, I felt, was that the private sector gave you a fighting chance if you were superlative. If you had your Harvard degrees and 90 hour workweeks and asskissing ducks in a row there WAS a chance you’d make partner at Skadden Arps.
But the presidency? No way. Not even the superlatives could conquer that.
Barack Obama, whatever you might say, has started to change that impression. And no, the average people-of-a-certain-pigment or women or Jews may never have as good a chance at the Presidency. But the superlatives? They are going to start trying harder for that job where before they’d have gone into professions they felt would actually recognize and reward them.
I think there are older people who were brought up in racist homes and racist environments who still cling to racist beliefs. There are just as many of us who were brought up in homes where racism was not tolerated (me, 50+) and many more who have managed to reject that faulty belief systems of their parents and their parents’ parents (my mother).
The problem with the younger than 40 set is a lack of understanding/experience with respect to the history of racism and Black people in this country that has set up the incredibly offensive mentality of “get over it already”. Our children, those under 20, are our greatest hope for a significantly less racist society. By the time I was 8 years old I’d heard the “N” word and racist remarks and jokes and lived in an inherently White world outside of school (I went to a predominantly Black jr. high school). My kids, 5 and 8, have lived with a Black stepfather, have Black neighbors, Black friends, Hispanic friends, have not heard the “N” word to my knowledge… Have certainly never uttered it… And give absolutely no thought to race other than innocent questions about why his skin is dark and ours is light, etc.
So what group of people or demographic do you think are the ones that are more likely to factor in someone’s race in an election? If you were to draw a line, where would you do it? Clearly you don’t think an age demographic is where - so what, geographically? Economically? Educationally?
As long as we’re making random predictions we’ll forget about if they’re wrong, I’m on record as saying the next president will be a woman.
“Multiple decades at least” sounds like a big prediction, but could include as few as three presidents, so it’s not so bold. There can be as many as five presidents in a 20-year span, but there hasn’t been a streak like that in more than 100 years and I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon. So the OP thinks the next five presidents or so will include a woman, but not a black man. Given the way the U.S. populations looks, again, not really a stunner. A Latin president is also not unthinkable.
But if the proposition is that Obama is a token president in some way, I don’t agree.
I’m in downtown DC today, and there’s almost no room to walk – the streets are just choked with rainbow dust piling up behind abandoned unicorns. It’s impossible to be on time for a scheduled waterboarding. I don’t know what they were thinking.
