Comments on: Feministe Feedback: Responding to, “Why, because he’s black?”

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:14:19 +0000

My immediate knee-jerk reaction to the story was that the questioners seemed to really be asking, “Why, just because he’s black?” Obviously I can’t speak for the person who related the story Jill quotes above, but my copious white liberal guilt has been long established, so the assumption of some of my friends (mostly the conservative ones, but even a few fellow libs) is that my main motivation for supporting Obama is because he’s black.

Which isn’t the case, of course, but even as an Obama supporter, I wouldn’t want someone to support him solely because of his skin color, and there’s a part of me that hopes someone would feel bad for not approaching the presidential race with any more depth or consideration than that. I only hope that the people getting in line behind McCain just because they can’t stomach the thought of a woman or an African-American in the White House are getting the same sort of scrutiny.

By: Felicia

Felicia — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:28:18 +0000

Well–since we’ve been called to open a dialogue on race, I will be truthful in what I feel. As an African American, if a white person said, “I voted for Obama, but now I’m having second thoughts,” I would immediately think s/he had second thoughts because Obama is black. I know that’s irrational, and wrong to think that, but I would.

Perhaps–and I don’t know the race of the persons who asked you–you shouldn’t take it as an offense, but as honest curiosity.

I’m glad you made this post because it has taught me not to automatically assume that whites who support HRC are doing so because they don’t want to see a black man in the White House. Again–that’s wrongheaded thinking, but it’s what I thought, and I’m being honest because I hope our nation has begun a dialogue about race.

By: jj

jj — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:14:17 +0000

A couple of my white friends have had problems with this in other conversations outside of the elections as well. One friend had a guy hitting on her at a bar and asked her for her phone number. She said no, and he said, Why, because I’m black? Another friend was talking in a group about a new guy at work. When someone asked for a description so they could know who she was talking about she said “he’s kinda funny looking”. A guy at the table said “why, do you think he looks funny, because he’s brown like me?” My only response in these situations would be “no, fuck you”, but that doesn’t seem like an effective answer. Any suggestions?

By: forrest

forrest — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:24:41 +0000

I think in this election you’re doomed either way. I just spent an hour talking to my mom about the election, and one of the things we discussed was the fact that it’s unfortunate that somebody has to lose the Democratic nomination. Blacks and women and supporters of blacks and women have really invested themselves into Obama and Clinton, and at this point it seems inevitable that regardless of who wins, a lot of people are going to end up feeling crushed. (My mom, for what it’s worth, supports Obama but does feel sort of guilty about it, because she dislikes Clinton but is having a hard time figuring out why.)

More prosaically, the best way to answer that question is to blow it off and change the subject, because it’s dangerously close to the “have you stopped beating your wife yet?” school of unanswerable trick questions, and if it’s a joke, it doesn’t really need an answer, does it?

By: Silver Owl

Silver Owl — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:14:15 +0000

Ol Cranky,

I don’t think that’s horrible. Natural curiosity to me. People can do weird things. My sister tells her husband who is a diehard republican that she always votes republican just like him so he won’t bitch. She tells me she voted democratic all the years they were married and dating. LOL! To be honest I don’t know how she voted. It does make me wonder about all the spouses that say they vote the same but do they really?

By: ol cranky

ol cranky — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:44:11 +0000

I know this sounds horrible but I wonder how many ambivalent people voted Obama instead of Clinton because there is a lot of insinuation that anyone who votes against Obama is racist. It’s total bunk but I have a feeling it’s a bit of a liberal guilt trip that’s fueling this; had Clinton been running against a white, Christian male, there may have been some ambivalent liberals who had a similar fear that to vote for the guy was sexist (though I don’t think it would have been as strong a reaction as the racial one may be). The more we hear people on both ends of the color spectrum saying that someone who isn’t X can’t represent X people, the more those of us who detest this BS feel a need to prove what asshats the race-based voting is. Unfortunately, that leads a lot of people to second guess their votes and allow that to play into the ambivalence that is already there.

By: denelian

denelian — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:20:36 +0000

half my friends expected me to vote HRC, the other half expected me to vote Obama.

because i am a feminist, and because i have a black boyfriend. seriously, this is what i was told.

it seems to me, also in cbus, that these people aren’t so much questioning either your motive or your action, but their own perceptions…

By: robin

robin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:58:57 +0000

I voted fro Obama in the primary. A feminist friend challenged me very forcefully saying I had betrayed my gender. My argument back was I wanted to vote for the candidate that I felt would be best. I spent a lot of time weighing the issues, the person, the way the candidates ran their campaign, and I found they were pretty close to eachother in style, issues, policy, and the like. Obama, however, represents a new and different face in the White House. Clinton, on the other hand, may be more like Bill, and although I liked Bill, I still found him very very much a conservative democrat. After the speech this week by Obama, I am even more confident in his positions. I feel he can speak truthfully and directly to the electorate. Hillary is more secretive, which I don’t want in my next president.

By: exholt

exholt — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:24:57 +0000

Though the motives of the persons asking in those two cases may not have been aboveboard, I do not necessarily think the questions are necessarily illegitimate in all instances.

One of the most irritating things about this primary race is the disturbing numbers of people I’ve encountered who are voting for Hilliary mainly due to racist motivations (Can’t have a non-white in the White House), Obama due to sexist motivations (Can’t have a woman in the White House), or McCain because they cannot stand having either a non-white or a woman as President.

IMO, those are some of the most idiotic reasons to reject a candidate….

By: Medicine Man

Medicine Man — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:24:17 +0000

I wouldn’t blame people for having a bit of buyers remorse right now. It is really looking like the general election is going to be a rough ride, regardless of which Dem is the nominee.