Pakled posted:

I don't know if he wants to, but there's a young Kennedy in the House right now who fits the bill. No idea if serving in the Senate is his ambition, but still.

quote:

Fenise Dunson was a career adviser at an Illinois college in 2008 when some of her white coworkers started warning her about Obama's first presidential run. "We won't let this happen," they said. Or, after he was elected: "He might be president, but you're not in control."

"You don't know where this is coming from," says Dunson, who now teaches at a college in Maryland. She wondered whether "people had been politically correct and they had really been feeling this way for a long time and now they feel like they can be vocal about how they feel?

quote:

Google "Obama racism" and you'll see images of Obama being lynched or labeled "Primate in Chief." Michelle Obama was recently depicted by one cartoonist with a penis bulge under her skirt. These are images straight out of America's slave era. And many are not tucked away in ugly corners of the Internet. They are publicly displayed at political rallies and in front of homes.

Open displays of racism have become normal again, some say. More Americans are comfortable publicly expressing racially inflammatory rhetoric, according to some political scientists. Some blacks have noticed. They say they feel like they've been caught in a time warp. They're constantly seeing images and hearing racist language that they thought were relics.

"I thought that all of this nastiness had been litigated and fought by my parents and grandparents," says Richardson-Hall, also a food blogger. "Imagine my surprise, looking at this square in the face."

quote:

Some now wonder if there is room for them in America's future. Coleman, who works at the Oklahoma nonprofit, says it seemed like the nation had turned a corner when Obama was elected. Now she wonders if that corner led to a dead end.

"I'm a spiritual person. I believe in God. But I don't know if we'll ever see the racial harmony that King talked about," she says. "Sometimes I just feel like we'll never get there."

That tragic sentiment runs through American history. Racism has been called the nation's "original sin," the "American dilemma." The country fought its bloodiest war over race; its ugliest chapters revolve around race. Its founding documents enshrine equality, while much of its history contradicts those values. Perhaps that is why the late Rev. Vincent Harding, an adviser to King, described America as an idea, not a reality.

"The United States of America is a work in progress -- a shadow on the wall of a multiracial, compassionate democracy that does not yet exist," he once wrote.

quote:

Obama has a more optimistic vision of America. Last year he defined American exceptionalism in one of his most memorable speeches, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Selma civil rights campaign. He said that "we do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, or that racial division is inherent to America."

"We respect the past, but we don't pine for the past," Obama said. "We don't fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing."

Obama will soon be gone from office. Will his successor inspire black Americans to recover some of the optimism they lost during the Obama years?

Or will the promise of a compassionate, multiracial democracy that Obama embodies seem like a lie?

Pakled posted:

I don't know if he wants to, but there's a young Kennedy in the House right now who fits the bill. No idea if serving in the Senate is his ambition, but still.

Trabisnikof posted:

I'm actually beginning to believe there will be a congressional investigation into the Lynch/Clinton plane meeting. The media is discussing the optics rather than what was said, so that'll give Republicans free reign to play the "if you have nothing to hide..." card.

A Winner is Jew posted:

I for one will be shocked if republicans use a congressional investigation to harass a Clinton in an effort to discredit their name in politics.

Arrgytehpirate posted:

Transgender are gonna be allowed in the military

Talmonis posted:

Yikes. Good on you if you're secure in your current status (I'm sure as hell not) enough to perform the duties of a soldier/sailor/airman, but I straight up fear for your safety in the military.

zoux posted:

Greedy, arrogant Obama not content with a modest Presidential Library!!
https://twitter.com/ObamaFoundation/status/748566181213179904

Arrgytehpirate posted:

He wasn't a human being he just hosed dudes.

Gort posted:

Is the US like Stellaris where every ruler gets to build one super-big building with their name on it?

A Winner is Jew posted:

So can you not do this.

SedanChair posted:

Does being a Kennedy even have value anymore?

Teddybear posted:

It's traditional that presidents have a library, either standalone or associated with a university, that houses their papers and records. JFK's is at UMass Boston, for example, and GWB's is at... I wanna say SMU or TCU.

Arrgytehpirate posted:

He wasn't a human being he just hosed dudes.

Trabisnikof posted:

You can't convict a husband and wife for the same crime!!!

hangedman1984 posted:

DUDE!! Come on now! That is not cool.

hangedman1984 posted:

DUDE!! Come on now! That is not cool.

SedanChair posted:

Do you guys not get that this was the perspective of his squadmates

SedanChair posted:

Do you guys not get that this was the perspective of his squadmates

Trabisnikof posted:

It's also the oldest tradition of bigots slowly warming to groups previously otherized:


"Wow, he's not one of them wops, he just likes his mom and spicy food a lot!"

"Wow, he's not one of them spics, he just likes his mom and spicy food a lot!"


It's an "easy" way to say "wow, my stereotypes of an demeaned and otherized group doesn't match reality because my worldview is very bigoted but I don't realize it yet"

SedanChair posted:

I'm not gay, I just do the one thing that makes you gay, not like wear a frilly apron or something

haveblue posted:

Talmonis posted:

For a lot of people, it's the flamboyance and "odd" mannerisms that weird them out more than actual homosexuality.

SedanChair posted:

I'm not gay, I just do the one thing that makes you gay, not like wear a frilly apron or something

Talmonis posted:

Warming is good though. Progess is good.

LeJackal posted:

Thats about as thinly veiled excuse as saying 'I like the Jews, but spoken Hebrew gives me the willies.'

CannonFodder posted:

I'm in NC and got polled recently and I didn't have that third option

LeJackal posted:

Thats about as thinly veiled excuse as saying 'I like the Jews, but spoken Hebrew gives me the willies.'

Talmonis posted:

Only if you're implying that to be "properly" gay, you have to speak with a lisp, flap your wrists and be an attention whore.

That's stupid.

Trabisnikof posted:

It's also the oldest tradition of bigots slowly warming to groups previously otherized:


"Wow, he's not one of them wops, he just likes his mom and spicy food a lot!"

"Wow, he's not one of them spics, he just likes his mom and spicy food a lot!"


It's an "easy" way to say "wow, my stereotypes of an demeaned and otherized group doesn't match reality because my worldview is very bigoted but I don't realize it yet"

A Winner is Jew posted:

I for one will be shocked if republicans use a congressional investigation to harass a Clinton in an effort to discredit their name in politics.

BI NOW GAY LATER posted:

They won't harass Bill because apparently he still scares them shitless.

Trabisnikof posted:

Are you trying to imply one has to speak Hebrew openly to be "properly" Jewish?

Trabisnikof posted:

Are you trying to imply one has to speak Hebrew openly to be "properly" Jewish?

Talmonis posted:

Well I mean, that's why I added the quotes...

BetterToRuleInHell posted:

In other news, the Navy released a report calling the sailors who were captured by the Iranian military later released a bunch of big babies and everyone involved were stupid, also Iran violated international laws and made the US look dumb which of course would evoke no reaction at all from the US.

I'm pretty sure my quick take is spot on.