It's official, the United States elected it first African American president. Can we now sit back, relax, and say phew we really aren't a racist country after all? Did president elect Barack Obama break through the barriers of discrimination and a dark past of slavery and segregation? Are we a country who accepts progressive ideas and shoots down discrimination? In class yesterday we discussed how electing Barack Obama is a monumental step forward for our country, and I agree that it is definitely a big step. Also mentioned was the rise of many racist and extremely inappropriate comments after the outcome in favor of Obama. I myself was shocked to hear friends of mine (who were McCain supporters) use racist terms and tell slave jokes, like it is no big deal and socially acceptable. I almost felt as though for some, the outcome of this election was like stepping back into the America of the 1950s and 60s. However, for the majority, Obama was a milestone in the fight to end race discrimination with some shouting triumphantly, "YES WE DID!", but for over 18,000 gay couples in California, discrimination and a lack of change was a powerful outcome of the 2008 election.
In a CNN commentary, one LA journalist discussed the overwhelming support of Proposition 8 by the Latino community. Most Latinos voted in favor of Barack Obama, but at the same time provided critical support for the prevention of same sex marriages in the state of California. So why bring up the Latino vote when talking about the 2008 election? Well as the article states:
"The irony of Latino support for Prop. 8 is sad. That a community that continues to struggle for basic rights would deny them to another is particularly baffling. A marginalized minority, Latinos, voting to take away the rights of another marginalized group, gays and lesbians, is like the kid who's picked on in the third grade and only makes some headway when a punier kid comes along to take the punches instead."
Even though electing Barack Obama was a step forward away from discrimination of one group, the many propositions in a couple of states eliminated basic civil rights and liberties of others. So therefore, does one step forward and one step back mean there is no progress at all, or is one more important than the other, preventing this canceling out?
I think that even I am caught in this question- and its only 3 days after the election.
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It is surprising that people so willing for change, are the ones to kind of hinder it. I'm Hispanic and my mom, like a lot of other really religious spanish mothers, is against gay marriage... She didn't vote for Obama but she is ready to see what he can do. She's not against homosexuals, just against their act of getting married. I asked her how she can say she's not against homosexuals but be against their getting marriaed and she basically went along the lines saying that marriage, in the Christian sense, is sacred. She's not against civil unions and she is in favor for gay marriages to have the same legal rights/benefits as heterosexual marriages. I think her only issue is that, in the Bible, same-sex marriage is not acceptable. Being gay and acting on it is going against the Bible. I'm pretty sure she knows she has no right to judge homosexuals because you can't choose who you like/love, but for her, I feel like it's more tradition than it is discrimination. To her, marriage, as this socialized construct is sacred and in a sense, gay marriage is something that taints (for lack of a better word) that. The way she explained it to me made sense, but I'm not sure if I relayed that well.
On another note, I was a bit offended by this article. As far as one minority group discriminating against another, I don't think that's any worse than a majority discriminating against a minority. If I were to discriminate against blacks, would that make me worse than a white man discriminating against someone who's black just because I'm Hispanic? To me, they're both discrimination and equally wrong.
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