Outtakes from new Toronto Star article

First, I have an article in the Toronto Star. Check it out.

As the word count is pretty rigid, there was so much interesting stuff that I couldn't put in about what, if any social, economical and political changes Black Canadians might experience if Barak Obama becomes president. I asked a couple of questions that were not in the article and there was more elaborate responses, so I thought I would post some 'soundbites' here. I will not use the names of the respondents just in case......

Will a black candidate help elievate racism in North America? ( I asked this because 'some' feel that it would be a sign that racism will be no longer be an 'issue' - yeah, right)

Racism will be even worse if he was president. All those ugly whites. Racism will rise to a level that we haven’t seen before because a lot of whites hate black people. You have Rush Lambaugh, sean hannity, you have ABC, fox launching attacks. That’s where the mainstream media comes in, launching attacks. They will give room to (racists) any black person who get appointed – whether it be the supreme court or any level of government, will be targeted because they are black. You can also expect those whites who feel entitled because of white skin privledge that ‘hey, I’m not getting what I once had and I need to do something to those people who I feel have taken my spot where I should have been'. And then you will see it on the street. I don’t think we will be singing ‘we shall overcome.’

But wasn’t Obama thinking about this (how his candicacy would affect race / racism) before? Doesn’t / should he be thinking about the future?

You always have to weigh the pros and the cons. But you always have to look at what is good to you. We have never had a black man who has had a credible challenge before. It seems that he has a good shot in terms of delegates and fund raising. He is doing everything right. You have to ask yourself – what is the nature of citizenship? You are entitled to….How does it translate? A lot more Canadian blacks could run for political office. We might be seeing a huge change among the younger generation, as he has reached out to youth like nobody else has. He’s younger and looks young. And he will not be the youngest person but he is inspiring to the younger generation.

Do you think Black Canadians would volunteer to go down to the States and work on Obama's campgain - if they (legally) could?

I don’t think that a lot of Canadian black would go down to help with Obama’s campaign. I think it’s cute I think it’s funny and I think it’s silly. I think that Obama represents all of us. He is an immigrant – but he is not an immigrant, he has roots in Africa, he has other cultures in him he is American but on the other hand, he isn’t. I think that he represents all blacks but he also represents non-blacks, too.

Is it fair to think that an Obama presidency will be a positive imfluence among black youth? What about Canadians? (Okay I rephrased it a bit better during the interview)

“It will give (black youth) the self-respect and boost the image of the black community in the eyes of the country and in the world. At least I hope it will let people see that we can be more than gang-bangers and ‘ho’s!” Admitting that she is concerned more with American politics and Canadian politics because “I think what happens over there has a bigger impact on the world than what happens here,” she does not think that it will help in unifying the cultural differences that presently lie within the Black Canadian community. “There is not common experience. Black Canadians do not really have that one defining moment in their history. Whatever we experience here is just the byproduct of the African – American experience. Our clothing, the way we talk, the videos we watch – all these are based on the black American culture. Heck, you can’t even name a single leader in the community!”

Comments

[jm]

I just hopped over from your article on BlogHer.

As someone who has supported Barack Obama since 2003, I'm not surprised that he has won over so many in his time on the national stage. He and Michelle won our hearts, and our support, years ago during his service in the Illinois Senate.

So, please don't give this white sister the side eye if you're ever in town. Or the thousands of white sisters here in Illinois who supported his run for the U.S. Senate.

As for Hillary? I voted for her husband twice and applauded her rise in the Senate. But I have never been so disgusted at such an egotistical display of poor sportsmanship that puts personal gain above the long term goals for the country. I was proud that a woman was a contender, but her behavior in the last few months has been embarrassing.

Congrats on getting this into the Star. Going to read this on my way home from work.

[Kid Funkadelic]

Hey Canada ,hows it's going.I forgot that Sen.Obama's election has a effect on the world.There's one reason I know that Sen.Obama is a good choice.There's an old saying , you can tell how good a job a black man is doing by how many white people hate him.Well Klannity and Oreilly really hate him, so he's doing an excellent job.Nice site , I will be back later.