# WARNING: Racist thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 10, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135 "2000-05-10T17:16:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ramesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramesh)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/1 "2000-05-10T17:16:07Z")
I live in Baltimore. I moved in some two years ago.
I read somewhere that Baltimore is 90% black. But the mayor Martin O’Mailey is white!!
How come?
PS. I am just curious. No insults intended.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/2 "2000-05-10T17:18:19Z")
I’m assuming it’s because he got the most votes.
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### Author:  [@Sweet\_Basil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Basil)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/3 "2000-05-10T17:20:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> I’m assuming it’s because he got the most votes.
> \*\*
Or spent the most bread in the campaign!
Sweet Basil
By the way, how is that racist?
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### Author:  [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/4 "2000-05-10T17:28:24Z")
Well, you have been living in Baltimore for 2 years… you should know without reading somewhere what your city’s race is mainly comprised of. Do you agree that it is 90%?
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/5 "2000-05-10T17:41:11Z")
Because the Baltimore electorate aren’t knee-jerk at the polls. They actually listened to issues, rather than vote by skin color.
Conversely, Marion Barry got re-elected to be DC Mayor even after his cocaine conviction. The reason many people voted for him: he was black and they were black, his opponent was white. It didn’t matter to the voters that he was a felon.
What also probably helped Barry was that during his previous terms he threw around patronage jobs to people of his hue. Really. How many poor white teens got summer jobs from Barry? Very few.
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### Author:  [@concrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/concrete)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/6 "2000-05-10T17:46:20Z")
90% black…thats alot of black people…
Those numbers don’t sound right to me.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/7 "2000-05-10T18:36:16Z")
Because he won the Democratic primary.
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### Author:  [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2000, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-racist-thread/19135/8 "2000-05-11T06:53:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> Because the Baltimore electorate aren’t knee-jerk at the polls. They actually listened to issues, rather than vote by skin color.
>
> Conversely, Marion Barry got re-elected to be DC Mayor even after his cocaine conviction. The reason many people voted for him: he was black and they were black, his opponent was white. It didn’t matter to the voters that he was a felon.
> \*\*
If his opponent in the PRIMARY election was white I’d say you might have a point, but I don’t think it’s fair to call the DC voters racist because they wouldn’t vote for a white Republican. Republicans never win anything in DC regardless of their race.