Observation Journal 4

"The president can't be black!"

Being a bartender I tend to hear a lot of interesting conversations. Yesterday, a woman and man at the bar got into a heated discussion about who has a better chance of being elected president. The "nigger" or the "bitch," as the man referred to them. (Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton) I could not believe the fact that this man had the guts to say that out loud. But being his bartender, it would be out of line for me to step into the conversation and let him know how rude he was. The couple discussed different reactions to the two candidates that would come from different areas in the country. Though I did not hear the entire conversation, it got me thinking about it.

Of what I did hear, one of the arguments was that people see Obama as uneducated. "Black people don't usually have an opportunity to get schooling like white people, so he's probably not as quick," the man stated. How stereotypical. "The president can't be black, it wouldn't fit," he said. Furthermore, he went on to say that if Hillary is elected there will be too much drama because women are "too catty and petty to run a country." Perhaps this man has made his judgments from actual observations of his, or maybe he is speaking on behalf of the ignorant people who raised him. Either way it showed that our country is still very far from living in equality.

In a country that claims to be equal, there has never been a president that was not a white male. Of the forty three presidents we have had, they all fit this description. Some brave people have challenged this as there are many women and men who are not white that have run for president--but all of them have failed. And as far as I know, none of them have come as far as Barak and Hillary. If elected, obviously our country will be run differently, however with every election brings change to our country. I think that it is time to be open to the idea of change. I, unfortunately, have not followed any of the debates and have hardly heard anyone's views, but I have a feeling that no matter how great either of these two candidates may be, they still don't have a chance. It has been less than ninety years since women were granted the right to vote and blacks (realistically) forty two years ago. Perhaps in another forty or maybe hundred years our country will be able to see through color and gender and deal with the real issues our nation should be thinking about.