Late last week, a poll was taken by The Associated Press to judge what effect racism will have on this presidential election.
Three percent of people say that they absolutely will not vote for Senator Obama simply because he is black. This result has inspired media frenzy. News commentators, like Jack Cafferty of CNN, have resorted to simply attributing the closeness in the polls to one factor, race. It's as if the only reason people wouldn't support Obama is because they don't like the color of his skin, rather than simply disagreeing with his policies.
I am not defending the respondents that said they would not ever vote for a black man, but I feel the poll in question ignored another major factor in this election: What percent of people will be voting for Obama simply because he is black? How many black people will vote Democrat because they feel it is their obligation to their race, and how many white people will vote Democrat out of what I call "white shame"? I think that the number of those who fall into this category is considerably larger than those who absolutely will not vote for a black person.
Polling by Quinnipiac University shows that 93 percent of black people will vote for Obama. That's up from the 86 percent that voted for Kerry in 2004.
Also, I'm sure there is a large block of white voters that will be casting a ballot for Obama because they feel that they owe it to the black community for past injustices.
Many of these people may truly believe that Obama is the best candidate - and that's fine if they feel that way - but many simply will be casting a ballot for the first viable black candidate for president, and that mentality is just as much of a crime against humanity as voting against a black candidate on the basis of color.
I am going to make a bold proclamation. You should support a candidate because you agree with their beliefs and stances on the issues, and that should be the only reason that you support them. Voting for someone on the basis of color is just as much an act of racism as not voting for someone simply because of their color. Before prejudice can fade into the history books in this country people need to put down their fingers and stop pointing blame at everyone else for their current problems.
That goes for everyone, black, white or anyone in between.
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