The US Election
It would be remiss of me, in a blog about living in America, not to comment on the recent US election.
For me the whole election was somewhat of a sideshow since, as a permanent resident and not a US citizen, I was not allowed to vote (why that should be so, when I pay taxes, have health insurance and will send my kids to US schools, I have no idea - but that's the law). As things stand, I do not see myself ever voting in a US election since I have no intention of relinquishing my UK citizenship, for the sole reason that it gives my kids dual citizenship, which is possibly the greatest gift that I can give them.
That aside, I'm glad Obama won. Had I voted, he would have got my vote. I think it was the right result and I think Obama is what the US needs right now in terms of repairing US relations overseas. You only needed to see the happiness around the world when Obama was elected to realize that people everywhere think similarly.
What was interesting to me was how the news networks covered the result. Time and again I heard the same comment "Clearly race wasn't an issue for the voters in the election," and then they would cut to an African-American reporter almost in tears saying something along the lines of "I never thought I'd see this day. We never thought a black man would be president." So for as much as the media claimed the election wasn't about race - they then proceeded to make it about race.
What has become clear in the US, is that people of African-American descent can do anything. For example, in the last few years we have had Halle Berry winning a best actress Oscar, and two Super Bowl teams with African American coaches. Perhaps now that an African-American has been elected to the highest office in the land, the ongoing demon of "First African-American this, and first African-American that..." can be laid to rest. Clearly, the opportunity to be the most powerful man in the world is open to everyone - and by default, therefore so should everything else. The sooner people of ALL races stop harping on about things, the sooner we can put racism behind us.
Now that's not to say that we'll ever be completely free of racism and prejudice. We're all guilty of it to a greater or lesser degree and there will always be bigoted and ignorant people, but for me and I'm sure many other people in America, Barack's election to president had nothing to with the color of his skin, he just made more sense than John McCain.
For me the whole election was somewhat of a sideshow since, as a permanent resident and not a US citizen, I was not allowed to vote (why that should be so, when I pay taxes, have health insurance and will send my kids to US schools, I have no idea - but that's the law). As things stand, I do not see myself ever voting in a US election since I have no intention of relinquishing my UK citizenship, for the sole reason that it gives my kids dual citizenship, which is possibly the greatest gift that I can give them.
That aside, I'm glad Obama won. Had I voted, he would have got my vote. I think it was the right result and I think Obama is what the US needs right now in terms of repairing US relations overseas. You only needed to see the happiness around the world when Obama was elected to realize that people everywhere think similarly.
What was interesting to me was how the news networks covered the result. Time and again I heard the same comment "Clearly race wasn't an issue for the voters in the election," and then they would cut to an African-American reporter almost in tears saying something along the lines of "I never thought I'd see this day. We never thought a black man would be president." So for as much as the media claimed the election wasn't about race - they then proceeded to make it about race.
What has become clear in the US, is that people of African-American descent can do anything. For example, in the last few years we have had Halle Berry winning a best actress Oscar, and two Super Bowl teams with African American coaches. Perhaps now that an African-American has been elected to the highest office in the land, the ongoing demon of "First African-American this, and first African-American that..." can be laid to rest. Clearly, the opportunity to be the most powerful man in the world is open to everyone - and by default, therefore so should everything else. The sooner people of ALL races stop harping on about things, the sooner we can put racism behind us.
Now that's not to say that we'll ever be completely free of racism and prejudice. We're all guilty of it to a greater or lesser degree and there will always be bigoted and ignorant people, but for me and I'm sure many other people in America, Barack's election to president had nothing to with the color of his skin, he just made more sense than John McCain.
posted by An Englishman in New York at 2:24 PM
1 Comments:
I didn't vote for Obama because he was black. I voted for him because, as a black guy, his view of the way life works in the U.S. is close to the way I see it working as well (as a minority in several categories) - which he saw because he was black. So I did vote for him because he was black. ;) It just wasn't about race or skin color per se.
Basically, it was time for the other half of America to get a voice for a change. The half that don't get included when (conservative white Christian) people talk about "real Americans." Obama's win was an affirmation to me that yes, we other half (the non-white, non-conservative, and non-Christian) are Americans too. That's how it's about race.
Post a Comment
<< Home