Everyone talks about black children "having a model" now that Barack Obama is President. I'm listening currently to the NPR York Project where people discussed their hopes and fears for having a black man being the new president.
There is a woman who keeps saying, "They are going to feel like its payback time. And I'm not talking about you, and I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about the ones out there on the street" She keeps mentioning that she will be friends with black people still, and she will live under a black president, but that there will be problems.
There was a black man across the room listening to this woman speak. He begins to explain that he can imagine people celebrating, not people shoving people off of sidewalks in anger. Another black school teacher was in the room as well and explains that he is afraid of the white man getting really mad and retaliating. He thinks that either way the vote goes, whether it goes for Obama, or against, the white man would be mad.
The last woman brought up a fear that I do agree is talked about but not really considered serious at times. Obama could be killed because of the hate and the discomfort and confusion that people feel.
I really liked listening to this NPR report because I felt that I got a good tablespoon of reality. That there are so many people out in the United States with so many different opinions. I think it's easy for me to just classify an entire state by how their vote turns (whether they are a red state or a blue state) but I forget that that doesn't mean that everyone in that state feels that way.
I think about some of the things that these folks do, but it was almost eerie to hear them spoken out loud and almost made into fact, so to speak. I think I'll go back and listen to more of these radio show talks and see what else I can find.
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Oh people! Like you said, it's easy to forget how many people there are and how differently each one thinks. Sometimes I forget that people like that woman actually think that is rational that all of sudden I would be shoved off a sidewalk because Obama is president. And while I know I am supposed to respect the individual opinions of others some just seem ridiculous, and thats probably because we spend so much time in our own heads with our own thoughts and perceptions of reality.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I hear talk of the fear of Obama being assassinated in hushed tones but no one really speaks of it so it would be eerie to hear it out in the open on a radio broadcast. A lot of citizens were unhappy with Bush and there was little or no mention of fear of murder, so is it just the race factor that is believed to be central to this fear?