Despite the decline of explicit racism in our society, the time we live in is far from racially transcendent. Almost all forms of racism seem to have disappeared from the national scene, but they still happen in great frequency at the grassroots level, where they are somewhat sheltered from the public eye. These instances of racial discrimination attest to that small contingent of our society that will likely never disappear completely, and show us that Obama’s election is not the finishing line in the black community’s journey to acceptance and equality; it is just another step forward. As evidenced by these ridiculous displays of white resentment towards the Obama’s racial background, imperfections still exist in the racial attitudes of the American people.

These shirts, depicting Barack Obama as curious George, are being sold out of a notoriously conservative bar in Marrietta Georgia. Despite its obvious racial content, the owner of the bar refuses to accept itsracial significance. "We're not living in the 40's," he said. "Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears -- he looks just like Curious George." much of marrietta is infuriated by the man's insensitivity, and have been holding protests outside the man's house for months. Mulligan's Bar is known for outragous expressions of conservatism and a chronic tendency to ignore public norms of political correctness. The bar owner has tried to justify the act by saying he is "reminding people of their right to offend", andwill not take down or denounce the shirts. However, he will likely be forced to discontinue their sale if Houghton Mifflin, the owner of the Curious George series, decides to take legal action over such an offensive use of their logo. The Obama campaign has refused to even adress the ordeal, denying it of public recognition.

This next example comes from a grassroots GOP group in California. The group distributed leaflets depicting Obama on a ten dollar bill, pictured with pictures of watermelon and fried chicken. The leaflets have been largely condemned by higher members of the party, and once again, it is traced back to a someone trying to pretend that racism was not the intent. The president of the club claims that she did not see anything racist or politically incorrect about the newsletter, saying that "it was just food to me." Once again, the Obama campaign adheres to its deracialized platform and refuses to accept comment on the event, steering clear of Racial issues for fear of being accused of playing the race card.

This Billboard has caused a great deal of controversy in West Plains Missouri, for its blatently false accusations. This draws on the false perception of many americans that obama is a radical muslim, and emphasises his middle name in order to draw on white fears of the middle-eastern culture. The campaign has been plagued by these utterly false perceptions since early on, and has had some trouble disproving them at a grassroots level.

Apparently some voters espouse blatently racist views, but were still willing to vote for Obama due to his strength on a variety of issues. Take this ridiculous exchange reported by an Obama Canvasser in pennsylvania. When the canvasser opened the door, a middle-aged whtie woman answered the door. When asked who she was voting for, the woman shouted the question inside the house to her husband, who was apparently several rooms away. To the Canvasser's astonishment, the man shouted back "We're Voting for the Ni**er!". The wife Calmly repeated her husband's statement and closed the door as if nothing had happenned. It is utterly perplexing to think that there are still people in our country who think nothing of using such racial expletives in everyday conversation, as if it held no cultural significance. This accout raises new questions about the salience of racism in todays society; apparently even some of Obama's supporters hold racist sentiments that are superceded by other political issues deemed more important.

For Further Reading:

Christian Boone and Jane Gumbrecht. 2008. "Curious George publisher may sue over T-shirt" Atlanta Journal Constitution. retreived from: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/05/13/mulligans_0514.html 12/8/08

Hannaham, James. 2008. "Racists for Obama" Salon.com. retreived from: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/11/03/racists_for_obama/ 12/8/08

http://politicalmusic.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/gop-group-depicts-obama-with-watermelon-ribs-and-fried-chicken/

http://current.com/items/89393772/racist_obama_billboard_causes_outrage.htm