For a number of months now the primaries have largely been devoid of race issues. Sure there's talk of Barack Obama being the 1st President of color, there's was the hiccup of Reverend Wright, but race has not been an overriding factor. I wondered how long it would take for race and/or racism to begin to rear its ugly head. It seems that the recent Democratic Primary in Pennsylvania was its debut, but surprisingly, race seems to have simmered down again. I'm not convinced that it will remain so subdued, inevitably it will reappear before the general election.
It goes without saying that a candidate should be judged by character, not color and that's how many of us would like the populace to vote. However it will not go down solely in that manner. There will be some racial bias....let's call it 'acceptable racial preference' (ARP for short) in which a person might feel a tad more comfortable with one like himself (or herself). Not that this is condoned, rather it is human nature. Look at any election and you'll see people voting for their own kind whether the linkage is race, religion, location, etc,etc. It's not due to a hatred of another as much as it is a comfort. Since this blog is about race, by literal definition, these people could be called racist. However I don't feel it is most appropriate using such a label hence we'll go with ARP.
Looking at the aftermath of the PA primary, the polls said that a number of whites said race was a factor in selecting between Barack and Hillary (this number varies depending on the poll). For the sake of consistency I will use one set of results from the New York Times. Of that 13% of whites who said race was a factor, 75% voted for Clinton. Of the 13% of blacks polled, 4% (I believe this to be 4% of the total, not of the 13%) said race was a factor while the other 9% said that it wasn't. Nevertheless, 91% of blacks voted for Obama - a charge quickly pointed out by those defending the whites who said race was a factor. I'm not here to judge either side because I understand ARP. And particularly so for blacks given that this is the first time that a viable black candidate is on the ballot. In being fair, I also understand white ARP as well. It's only natural. But this talk of race and voting pattern doesn't touch on what really matters and it's not race, it's racism.
It's not so important who one would vote for because of race, rather who that person would NOT vote for due to race. Of the 91% of blacks who are voting for Obama, how many would vote for a white candidate? I don't know the answer, but what I can tell you is that up to 100% of those who have voted in a presidential election in the past have voted for a white person. On the other side, there are many whites who voted for Clinton because because they like her (and possibly because she's white), yet they would vote for a non-white candidate they found viable. The problem (for Obama) is that portion that wouldn't. If Hillary Clinton were a black woman, those same voters would cast elsewhere. This isn't to say there isn't racism by blacks nor is it to exonerate such behavior. Rather it is to highlight that there is a bigger issue of race not being addressed. It is an ugly reality of the election process that's still being swept under the carpet.
