# Now that Obama is POTUS aren't black claims of being oppressed kind of hollow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329 "2008-11-05T19:41:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/1 "2008-11-05T19:41:09Z")
There’s a black POTUS. Don’t people trying to play the racial victim card look kind of silly from ths point forward? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/2 "2008-11-05T19:45:12Z")
> [@astro](#): > > There’s a black POTUS. Don’t people trying to play the racial victim card look kind of silly from ths point forward? 😕 The fuck?? You think that just because America as a whole has become non-racist enough to elect a black (well, bi-racial) man as President, significant racism in this country no longer exists? Dude, let’s not get carried away here. Yes, anybody complaining “A black man could never be elected President in this racist country” has been conclusively shown to be wrong. But people complaining “Blacks are often discriminated against in America because of their race” are, alas, still right. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/3 "2008-11-05T19:48:29Z")
I totally plan on discriminating against blacks now, they can’t whine about it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/4 "2008-11-05T19:48:43Z")
By the way: go Google the phrase “nigger Obama”, or “I will never vote for a black”, and then come back and tell me how anti-black racism doesn’t exist anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/5 "2008-11-05T19:49:09Z")
Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/6 "2008-11-05T19:49:56Z")
Hey, I think that the Obama win is ‘making it’, as I heard a black man on TV who was in tears exclaim. “We made it!”, he said. That doesn’t make them ring hollow in the past, but maybe in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/7 "2008-11-05T19:53:41Z")
> [@astro](#): > > There’s a black POTUS. Don’t people trying to play the racial victim card look kind of silly from ths point forward? Hollow? Of course you’re kidding. Did you see some of the folks that were at John McCain’s rallies and Town Hall meetings. How many of those folks interact with blacks on a daily basis? How many have black employees, are police officers, personnel clerks, Judges, cab drivers, apartment rental owners, lenders, etc… You really gotta be kidding. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/8 "2008-11-05T20:04:48Z")
No. But I do think they have been diminished. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/9 "2008-11-05T20:08:57Z")
According to some chart I found on the Internet, there were approximately 611,000 black children born in America in 1961. Exactly one (1) of them has become president. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/10 "2008-11-05T20:12:09Z")
Claims of oppression are still valid. However, this is another nail in the coffin of Affirmative Action. It WILL be harder to complain about society wide discrimination when we have a black president. There will be a lot of people saying, “quit your bitching - a black man was elected President -what is your problem?” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/11 "2008-11-05T20:12:40Z")
They’ve been hollow since all the slaves were freed. What more do these people _want_? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/12 "2008-11-05T20:13:00Z")
Other Dopers have suggested stuff like this, and I think it’s naive and misguided. Only one black man got a new job last night, and that was Barack Obama. Parties aside, inner cities aren’t any different today than they were yesterday, and the “high school to prison pipeline” didn’t vanish. I hope Obama will be better attuned to those issues than Bush and Bill “Sister Souljah moment” Clinton, and I think there is ample reason to believe he will be. But Barack Obama was an exceptional candidate running at a specific moment. This by itself doesn’t make the fears of a “typical white person” vanish, although I think it will do a lot to diminsh them over time. In [“A More Perfect Union,”](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/18/text-of-obamas-speech-a-more-perfect-union/) Obama won a lot of praise for dealing with race as a complex manner and treating voters like adults who could understand it that way. It remains a complex issue. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/13 "2008-11-05T20:13:57Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > According to some chart I found on the Internet, there were approximately 611,000 black children born in America in 1961. Exactly one (1) of them has become president. > > –Cliffy Now _that’s_ affirmative action, in action! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/14 "2008-11-05T20:15:19Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > Sigh. +1 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/15 "2008-11-05T20:15:29Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > According to some chart I found on the Internet, there were approximately 611,000 black children born in America in 1961. Exactly one (1) of them has become president. > > –Cliffy So then white people are even more oppressed because we have had an even smaller proportion of our population elected President. ---
**Author:** ![Burton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Burton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burton)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/16 "2008-11-05T20:15:56Z")
If playing the race victim means you can’t measure my performance or ethics in the same manner as others then I think I understand. ---
**Author:** ![IClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c37758/32.png) [@IClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IClaudius)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/17 "2008-11-05T20:16:40Z")
I reckon Obama’s election victory is a sign of significant progress. I think Spike Lee said it best on MSNBC when he said there is a new racial paradigm of self-conscious progress that will now be defined as BB and AB - Before Barack and After Barack. This is meaningful stuff and anyone can appreciate it by viewing the tears of joy on so many young and old African American faces last night, when they realised it actually happened and that prejudice was overcome in America. Also, hearing how all these families will tell their children of this moment, and inspire them to success and the possibility of success - is I think hugely important. Contrast that to black and Hispanic reservations about Obama prior to when he won Iowa in the primaries - which was entirely based on racial pessimism. But let’s not pretend racism is over. It is still a problem as others have mentioned. It took the best political campaign in history and a candidate of tremendous personal charisma and oratory to actually make it to office. Obama is extraordinary in that sense. But no doubt further progress will be easier for people following in his footsteps, for all minorities. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/18 "2008-11-05T20:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Gadarene] Sigh. [/QUOTE] Times a hundred. > [@Cliffy](#): > > According to some chart I found on the Internet, there were approximately 611,000 black children born in America in 1961. Exactly one (1) of them has become president. > > –Cliffy Except that : Hawaii was not a state. Anyway, Obama was born in Kenya. And double anyway, that’s not his real birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/19 "2008-11-05T20:17:04Z")
[sarcasm]…and not only that (the OP’s statement), but doesn’t Palin’s non-election as VP ultra-validate feminists’ claims of sexism?[/sarcasm] ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329/20 "2008-11-05T20:17:41Z")
> [@astro](#): > > There’s a black POTUS. Don’t people trying to play the racial victim card look kind of silly from ths point forward? I know this is not the pit, but I’m sorry, that’s an idiotic statement, and proves you are completely clueless on this issue. You think because a black man becomes president racism and racist tactics that harm black people emotionally and financially, stops on a dime? Will a black president prevent a company from refusing to hire an applicant solely based on race??? Seriously? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-obama-is-potus-arent-black-claims-of-being-oppressed-kind-of-hollow/471329.md?page=2)