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'post-racial candidate' - is the US getting over its obsession at last?

 
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Aug21-04, 12:04 PM   #18
 
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'post-racial candidate' - is the US getting over its obsession at last?


Quote by selfAdjoint
Historically, US opinion treated mixed race people as black. This bias has had its effect on current, more enlightened, opinion, but the question is not yet settled. Look at Tiger Woods, who is clearly of mixed background; people are unsure what to call him.

"Race-blind" is an interesting term. What do you think it connotes?
Hmm, I read that Tiger himself is (was?) pretty annoyed with people trying to put him in some kind of 'race box', and said his race is calibrasian (?); this would suggest that Tiger is 'post-race', and may fervently wish he lived in a 'race-blind' society.

I have no idea if 'race-blind' is at all common in the US, but I don't think I'm such a creative person that I made it up Perhaps an analogy? In this past century the role and status of women in western society has undergone a tremendous change. With the election of Maggie as PM in the UK, you could say that UK society had become 'gender-blind' in politics (not 'sex-blind'; let's hope that it never becomes 'sex-blind' ) ... even if it probably took another decade or so to become the reality - political debate about Maggie had to do with her politics, her government's policies, her party's internal machinations, and so on; they had little to do with her gender. I know it's not a perfect analogy - the Labour Party still very much has 'women's issues' as an important component of its manifesto - but I think you get the idea.
Aug22-04, 04:51 PM   #19
 
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Quote by Nereid
Is this a common perception in the US? That people like Obama are viewed by some as black, by others as white? How common in the US is a view something like this: 'Obama is Obama and except for the fact that everything I read talks about him being black (or some other colour), I probably wouldn't have noticed. In any case, I am heartily sick & tired of race politics'?
A little more on this: blacks often view "post racial" blacks (or even just successful blacks) as traitors "trying to be white." The backlash against Bill Cosby is the same type of thing. For a black politician to not emphasize race as an issue puts him at risk of losing his identity and with it, the "black vote."
Hmm, I read that Tiger himself is (was?) pretty annoyed with people trying to put him in some kind of 'race box', and said his race is calibrasian (?); this would suggest that Tiger is 'post-race', and may fervently wish he lived in a 'race-blind' society.
Yes. Same type of thing as Obama - "I'm not a black golfer, I'm just a golfer." Put people still want to put him in that box (frankly, I think the media is a big part of the problem for both Woods and Obama).

Regarding sex: its still an issue in the US, but it is fading. We probably aren't going to have a female president any time soon though. The problem is that while to a 25 or 30 year old, sex isn't an issue and young women do whatever they want, in the 60s and 70s when women's lib happened, sex was still an issue - and those are the women who today aren't in a position where they could be president. A woman in 1965 who wanted to be a poly sci major->lawyer->politician may not have thought it realistic and instead choose to teach politics instead of being a politician. It'll be another 20 years until today's woman is in a position to run for President (and her peers to vote for her).
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