As I was driving home from work I was listening to NPR as I often do, and This American Life was in Pennsylvania trying to figure out why and how John McCain and Barak Obama both think they can win there.
Most of the piece was getting to know the campaign volunteers as they made calls and went out on foot to try and convince the undecided to vote for either McCain or Obama, or to sway the decided to vote the other way.
The most interesting part of this piece for me was when the Obama volunteers asked the decided McCain voters why they aren't voting for Obama. Some said because of his health care and economic plans, but most just said they simply were not ready to vote for a black man.
Now clearly this is a bit offensive, and quite sad but not what caught my attention. What really has got me thinking is that Barak Obama is not a black man. His mother is White and his father is Kenyan or Black, so he is just as much a white man as he is a black man. So why is he only categorized as a black man? And really what would we call him, or categorize him as; since there are no names or categories for bi-racial people like Senator Obama and myself. And why is that? And why must there be racial categorization? Can't Senator Obama and I just be American?
Just something to think about, from my people to yours.
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