in his famous “I have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of a nation of equality and colorblindness. as we near the inauguration of Barack Obama, the fact that he is the first black president of the United States has come up ad nauseum. would this concept, that there is such a hoopla over the first black POTUS cause MLK to roll in his grave, considering he saw a future where black, white, it didn’t matter, it would just be another president, who happened to be the first black one, not the massive media obsession it is? discuss.
Of course not. King, if anyone, was familiar with the drama surrounding racial precedent. He would have expected nothing less, as the inevitable reaction to the first occurrence of full inclusion at the very highest levels of society and government.
first occurrence of full inclusion
You don’t really believe that do you? All other accomplishments of black Americans in government were just a fraud?
Wait, isn’t he half white, raised by whites?
Wait, isn’t he half white, raised by whites?
Oh, don’t let a little fact like that get in the way.
And even better–he’s half KANSAN!
clm
Do you have a point?
Wait, isn’t he half white, raised by whites?
Yes, but I somehow think that this would not have been enough to allow him to eat at the counter or ride at the front of the bus if he were in Alabama fifty years ago.
It would help if you read and quoted the entire sentence.
in his famous “I have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of a nation of equality and colorblindness. as we near the inauguration of Barack Obama, the fact that he is the first black president of the United States has come up ad nauseum. would this concept, that there is such a hoopla over the first black POTUS cause MLK to roll in his grave, considering he saw a future where black, white, it didn’t matter, it would just be another president, who happened to be the first black one, not the massive media obsession it is? discuss.
Yes I believe he is rolling in his grave. It is 2009 and still stupid people care about race. The people that voted for Obama because he was black are just as bad as the people that didn’t vote for him because he was black, but you never hear about the first set of people. I could care less about what color someones skin is. I didn’t vote for Obama because I didn’t agree with what he believes in, plain and simple. Skin color never came into my mind. The fact that skin color played such a huge role in this election was a joke. If anyone MMS included said something bad about Obama they were labeled a racist by some of his supporters. And add to the fact that he is half black and half white makes me scratch my head even more. He is just as much black as he is white, but do you hear people talk about he is our first half white POTUS.
So I believe that Kings dream of equality regardless of skin color DIDN’T happen in this election.
So I believe that Kings dream of equality regardless of skin color DIDN’T happen in this election.
Obama was the most dynamic and appealing candidate in this election cycle, and yes, his skin color probably had something to do with it. There’s a good likelihood that our next black president will get a great deal of attention for the same reason (proving that the first time wasn’t a novelty; the first “real” African-American, etc), and certainly the same will be true for our first female, first gay or lesbian, first polynesian, and so on.
There’s some level of truth in your above statement, but I hardly think it’s enough to make Dr. King “roll in his grave.” The drama surrounding his ethnic background and skin color was inevitable and predictable. King would have expected nothing less, I’m sure.
I think he’d be more disappointed in Obama’s association with Reverend Wright than anything else.
Sure he is. He’d be embarrassed that 40 years after his death, conservative media and various crackpots crawled out of the woodwork and assailed a Presidential candidate for his middle name, accused him of being a “Muslim”(the crackpot lady at the McCain town hall proudly did it in front of cameras), and expressed every form of xenophobia.
Four decades have passed since his death and still the fear of the alien among us is alive and well. Yes, MLK would be very sad.
the funny thing is of the 3 million people loitering around DC today, probably half are black. I guess many of them are unemployed and/or are on some government handout program and have the day off. So yeah MLK would be rolling in his grave.
Wow. What are the other half?
Sure he is. He’d be embarrassed that 40 years after his death, conservative media and various crackpots crawled out of the woodwork and assailed a Presidential candidate for his middle name, accused him of being a “Muslim”(the crackpot lady at the McCain town hall proudly did it in front of cameras), and expressed every form of xenophobia.
Four decades have passed since his death and still the fear of the alien among us is alive and well. Yes, MLK would be very sad.
Wouldn’t he also be embarrassed with the fact that something like 90% of blacks voted for Obama and some of those people voted for him for being black? People on both sides of the argument are stupid and are the worst part of this country. If you say one side is bad you have to recognize the equally bad other side.
the funny thing is of the 3 million people loitering around DC today, probably half are black. I guess many of them are unemployed and/or are on some government handout program and have the day off. So yeah MLK would be rolling in his grave.
So, I guess we’ll just mark you down as one of the aforementioned people who didn’t vote for him simply b/c of his race. And anyone who thinks MLK would be rolling in his grave today is clueless.
the funny thing is of the 3 million people loitering around DC today, probably half are black. I guess many of them are unemployed and/or are on some government handout program and have the day off. So yeah MLK would be rolling in his grave.
So, I guess we’ll just mark you down as one of the aforementioned people who didn’t vote for him simply b/c of his race. And anyone who thinks MLK would be rolling in his grave today is clueless.
Why do you say that? MLK Jr was about transcending race. This election shows that that hasn’t happened in this country. People like Pedalsaurs_Tex are moronic racists and the same can be said about the people who voted for Obama because they were both black. While I think we have come a long way since MLK Jr was killed we still have much farther to go. Racism is still alive and well in this country
“Skin color never came into my mind.”
There are lots of people who don’t base their votes on skin color. In MLK’s words, they don’t “judge” based on skin color. If you’re saying you’re one of those people, that’s good but not unique. If you’re literally saying you can look at Obama debate McCain (or a cast of Dems) and not notice the fact that Obama is black, then I’d bet that makes you very rare. I don’t think I’ve met a single person so far who makes that claim. You’d be the first. (ps, Colbert is joking when we says he does not see race).
+1 to TriMick
I didn’t vote for Obama…but it had nothing to do with his skin color. (actually, I didn’t vote for McCain either so lay off!).
But people who voted for him “because he is black” are both 1) ignorant and 2) as racist as someone who WOULDN’t vote for him “because he is black”
He’s not “black” he is mixed race. Conveniently ignored by every slavering media pundit everywhere.
Candidates should be elected because of their beliefs and their ideas and their plans to put those ideas into motion NOT the color of their skin.
Yet God help you if you mention this lest you be branded as “racist” or worse yet “a hatemonger”. It’s like the homosexual debate. I don’t care if you are homosexual or not. I just don’t happen to agree with that lifestyle. Of course, I don’t agree with a lot of lifestyle choices but as long as they don’t impact me or my life, have at it. That doesn’t make me homophobic, it simply means I find that lifestyle distasteful personally.
Not liking Prez OB doesn’t make me a racist any more than not liking McCain makes my black coworkers racist…it simply means we dislike their ideas and politics.
“Skin color never came into my mind.”
There are lots of people who don’t base their votes on skin color. In MLK’s words, they don’t “judge” based on skin color. If you’re saying you’re one of those people, that’s good but not unique. If you’re literally saying you can look at Obama debate McCain (or a cast of Dems) and not notice the fact that Obama is black, then I’d bet that makes you very rare. I don’t think I’ve met a single person so far who makes that claim. You’d be the first. (ps, Colbert is joking when we says he does not see race).
Of course I see race, but it has no effect on what I think about people. I have friends off all races, black, white, asian, and mexican and I treat them all the same. If someone says they don’t see race they are lying.
Why do you say that? MLK Jr was about transcending race. This election shows that that hasn't happened in this country.
Interesting. I’d say most people see it the opposite way. MLK, like most of us (hopefully) wanted to see a nation where race isn’t an issue but as you say, we aren’t quite there yet. I don’t for a second think he would have expected the country to be completely color-blind by now. I do think he would have seen today as a big step towards one day achieving that goal.
I also think you’re vastly overestimating the number of blacks who voted for him solely b/c of his race. It’s not as if most blacks were completely against his policies, held their noses and voted for him anyway b/c of the color of his skin. I could certainly be wrong, but I’d guess 99% of people who vote know where candidates stand on only a few major issues and maybe a couple more they feel are key to them and if those check out, they look at other, more superficial things like charisma, how a person looks and talks, “general impression”, etc…
I know this isn’t exactly the same thing, but I’m curious: Would you consider racist the blacks that rooted for or supported Jackie Robinson, Texas Western, and other “firsts” in entertainment, politics, and sports simply b/c of their race?