With the re-election of President Obama, white people who rooted for the other guy took to various forms of digital media and unleashed their disappointment. Some white folks went a good deal farther than disappointment into overt racism, like this white woman from California who posted her racism on Facebook. Jezebel pulled together a rogues’ gallery of racist tweets.
The gallery at Jezebel prompted some geographers to create a map of all the racist tweets.
The enterprising folks at Floating Sheep used software they created called DOLLY to collect geocoded tweets for the week beginning November 1. In other words, it’s possible to search Twitter by both location and key word (some other examples here). If I understand it correctly, the DOLLY software allows this search process to be further refined to get data at a more granular level.
What they came up with is a map that allows us to understand, at a glance, how these everyday acts of overt racism are spatially distributed in the U.S.
(Map from Floating Sheep; Interactive Map here.)
This is valuable work and just the kind of thing that I’d think sociologists would be interested in doing (but I digress, slightly). The methodology here, buried in the footnotes on the original post, is a worth exploring a little further.
The research questions they pose are: “Are racist tweets relatively evenly distributed? Or, do some states have higher specializations in racist tweets?”
To answer these questions, they sampled the universe of tweets. Specifically, they: “collected tweets that contained the text ‘monkey’ or ‘nigger’ AND also contain the text ‘Obama’ OR ‘reelected’ OR ‘won.’ A quick, and very unsettling, examination of the search results revealed that this indeed was a good match for our target of election-related hate speech. We end up with a total of 395 of some of the nastiest tweets you might possibly imagine. And given that we’re talking about the Internet, that is really saying something.”
Following that, they took the number of “hate tweets” by state and divided by the total number in the U.S., that became the numerator. Then, they got their denominator by doing the same for all the tweets in the state, divided by all the tweets in the U.S., which is easier to understand expressed as a formula:
(# of ALL Tweets in State / # of ALL Tweets in USA)
Based on this, they assign a number, or a Location Quotient (LQ), for “Post Election Racist Tweets.” They then rank order states based on their LQ’s.
The results they end up with (Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia end up with 3 highest LQ scores) are less interesting than their map and clever methodology. In their analysis, the writers do well to note that the “prevalence of post-election racist tweets is not strictly a southern phenomenon,” but the ranking of the LQ scores by states makes the opposite case.
I want to suggest here that the problem is two-fold: 1) the way the research question is posed and 2) the state-level of analysis.
The researchers here frame their question in terms of state boundaries and posit something of a false dichotomy between “even distribution” of racist tweets on the one hand, and, “states that specialize” in racist tweets on the other hand. As anyone who has taken an undergraduate methods class can tell you, this research question shapes the kind of data collection you do, and the analysis you come up with at the end.
The state-level of analysis here is something of a distraction. I understand that since we just went through a presidential election, people are thinking in terms of “states” – swing states, blue states, red states, who carried the state – but here, it makes less sense.
What I see when I look at this map are population centers. Take my home state, of Texas. The red dots there are clustered around places where there’s population density – Houston, Dallas, and more along the I-35 corridor. And, compare that to where I live now, on the East Coast. There are red dots all along the Northeast corridor of I-95. At a glance, it looks like racist tweets are not evenly distributed across the U.S. but are concentrated where white people live.
Again, let me say, I appreciate this work immensely, but I think that the state-level questions are the least interesting, and ultimately least revealing set of questions for mapping racism through digital media. Instead, I’d be interested in seeing some other basic demographic info about percentage of white people in the population and the proportion of racist tweets. My guess is that the LQ is highest where there is the highest proportion of white people, but that, as academics are so fond of saying, is an empirical question worth investigating.
More in posts to come on calling out racism in digital media, and the growing backlash against it.
395 nasty tweets spread out across the country doesn’t seem like a whole lot. Also, since they have a locator, I wonder if the researchers could tie their geolocation data into the raw census data to generate some sort of demographic. Neighborhood data seems like it shouldn’t be that difficult to come by. There is not really a guarantee that anyone tweeting at a given location is from that area so it may not be the most accurate but it would be a start.
Even though the data may not seem accurate to you that doesn’t justify that the racism in America is evenly spread through out the country. The map displays the red dots in the concentrated cities in U.S. because that is where most of the white Americans live. The map just shows that people are more racist than ever and still can’t accept the fact that we have a colored president. I think the Labeling Theory applies to this situation because many people view the president through negative stereotypes. And although those stereotypes are insufficient, no one should be able to judge a person based on appearances and rumors. Unless people get to know him personally and understand what type person Obama really is, they shouldn’t tweet racism comments. And plus it makes that person who is tweeting those racist comments immature and stupid because they don’t have any valid reason to justify their point
The 395 figure would have been much larger, too, if they had used other search terms for yet other racist commentary.
And then there are the longer commentaries everywhere….. Indeed, just now on Google search I get more than 3,850,000!! hits for the two words “n-word” and Obama…..
Fantastic post, Jessie! Joe is soooo right. Broader search terms and the expansion of sources to other social media (e.g. Facebook) would better reveal the massive number of racist internet chatter. Nevertheless, I think Jessie’s point is a good one. Every medium is likely to follow white population centers. That stands to reason. And the fact that social media are disproportionately used by younger, wealthier, higher educated whites further exposes the fallacy of the “racism is dying out/just about bigots” myth.
I think much of this outrage was fed to the public by the media itself. It’s almost as if the hatred was recycled. Televisions fed it to mass amounts of people and those masses added their own twist and posted right back onto social media sites. I would flip between a few channels as the votes were being projected and tallied and noticed some of the more conservative news stations saying things like “Obama will likely win X state because of the growing Hispanic population.” I have always noticed the minor ways particular news stations slip their own viewpoints into things, but have never heard anything this blatantly racist on one. A lot of people do not think what was said right then was racist because it was not directly hostile. However, when news stations send the message to the public that a comment like that is acceptable, naturally the public is going to take it to the next level on their own social media sites. Another point to note is that when one person gets away with a nasty comment, everyone suddenly thinks it is alright and follows along like sheep.
I spoke with my mom before the election. I normally will not talk to family members about politics to avoid conflict but I was interested to hear her views for this particular election. I actually thought my mom was an extremely liberal person. She has always come off that way to me and has always been very tolerant of all walks of life. However from our conversation I concluded that she was voting for Romney because she “doesn’t like Obama Care and Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate.” This comment made me realize my biggest fear; the Media is affecting the public’s view far more than I ever imagined. Anyone who is even mildly involved in politics knows that these are the two major topics that Obama has been used as a scapegoat for. In other words the media is telling society that America is in every situation it is in because of Obama Care and the Presidents birth certificate. It is insane to me because I assumed that anyone with half a brain would know that although we don’t always know the direct cause for our countries problems, a birth certificate isn’t one of them.
Changes take time and every president in history is blamed for the repercussions of the president before him. What about the “good presidents”? Are they just inheriting the good that has come from the previous presidents policies? People don’t think about these things though. They are always so eager to blame. It is one of the first things we learn as children. When something happened as a child the first question that had to be settled was whose fault it was. Not “What can we do to fix it?” This is what is happening with Obama. He sort of falls into two scapegoat categories and with the media just adding to the mess I think this is really where all of these nasty comments are arising from. Not only is everything automatically his fault because he is president, but also because he is a minority.
I completely agree with you! It’s like the social media is made up of a bunch of middle school girls just looking for the next big story and all the gossip going on. The only reason people freak out about race anymore is because when they do they get a lot of attention for it. Here we are pinpointing where the most racist tweets took place, basically making it a contest between states to see who can send out the most tweets about the president being black. It obviously doesn’t make a difference what race the president is, no matter who they are, the citizens that are of any other race would speculate based on the race of the president. If the president was a woman, there would be tons of sexist remarks on all the largest social networks.It doesn’t matter what race or sex the president is because it is impossible to make everyone happy, so we settle with making the majority of thhe population happy. Everyone else can just accept it and wait for their chance in four years to try to make a difference.
Every type of social media has an impact on somebody. Even President Obama and Romney new this so they decided to reach out to voters via those social medias. There were not that many posts on either candidates’ pages, but as election grew closer both parties decided to reach out. Both Romney and Obama realized this because they too understand that the media, in any sense, controls everything.
Texas is a predominately a republican state. The ignorance in some voters caused them to subconsciously use ideas and forums as their scapegoats. Not taking their time to educate themselves through not just the media, but to watch presidential debates and discussions. Not one person can change the world in 4 years, even if Congress and the House of Representatives were on their side. People say “Obama has done nothing”, but have they really seen the whole picture? The media distorts all senses of ideas and sayings, so people should not solely rely on them.
Especially with television stations, the news distorts political views based on their own beliefs. People on Facebook decided to come out of their shell and express to others how voting “can make a difference” and telling everyone they should go out and vote. But little as they knew, when Barack Obama was announced as President their backstage state of mind appeared. As news stations, Facebook, and Twitter all began to announce Obama was gaining both the electoral and popular vote, people began to go crazy. There were tweets about how it still is not over, Facebook posts about how “all the blacks must be proud” and even the republican news anchors had faces of distraught. Did these people really go out and vote AND were they educated? I was getting a bit worried, but it never crossed my mind to publicly say anything harmful or racist. People did not realize the extent of their comments and just brushed it off as if it were another “harmless act”. That is why some people do not see that they are being racist. Just because you are not that way towards the entire black community does not mean you are NOT a racist.
America is more divided than it ever was. You don’t look at social outlets like twitter, randomly typing in search words that are looking for racial slurs about President Obama or about racist comments. You look at the actual polling of the United States across the board during the election. You saw that Obama almost had what…. 96% of the black vote, 78% of the Latino vote, and 51% of the white vote. But in reality you saw the social divide of Americans. You had people identity with a candidate because of the color of his skin. Yes, some people knew their political agendas and actually had some knowledge about the policies each candidate had, but you can’t tell me you didn’t have more than one friend or associate that you knew who voted because of race. Go out and ask random people, of all races and skin color and ask them who they voted for and why. And in reality, most of response I bet is going to stem from a social standpoint. So I believe this study based on twitter tweets is fascinating and all but really provides no sociological insight about Americans what so ever. Rather instead, the polling and actual data coming from the election can tell the true story.
So you would not consider increased racist Twitter tweets insightful sociologically speaking? Especially given they were direct responses to the announcement of who won the presidency?
Given President Obama received the majority of the votes from subordinate groups, why might that be? Democratic presidents in more recent history have received significantly more votes from subordinate groups as noted from this website that cites the percentages of Black voters for both democrat and republicans for example, http://knowledgeequalsblackpower.tumblr.com/post/34983174792/is-it-true-that-black-voters-95-are-just-voting :
1984 Walter Mondale 90% Ronald Reagan 9%
1988 Michael Dukakis 90% George H.W. Bush 10%
1992 Bill Clinton 83% George H.W. Bush 10%
1996 Bill Clinton 84% Bob Dole 12%
2000 Al Gore 90% George W. Bush 9%
2004 John Kerry 88% George W. Bush 11%
So President Obama did slightly better than past white democratic presidents…how would that explain the reasons in the past for black voters being democratic leaning (up to 90%) in the past for example? It would be difficult to say that they were just voting for Michael Dukakis or Al Gore because of his race…in the case of President Obama, it may be that some of the voting was solely because of race among some.
And with Latinos for example, quoted from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/11/how-latinos-are-transforming-the-electoral-map.html:
In the election postmortems, Latinos have received a special level of attention, and for good reason. According to most estimates, Latino support for Obama was just a whisker short of the record 72 percent Bill Clinton got in 1992. Some reports even put it higher: The polling organization Latino Decisions gave Obama an eye-popping 75 percent of the vote, compared with 23 percent for Romney –a 3:1 margin.
The blaming of people voting for candidates solely because of race is interesting sociologically speaking in and of itself I suppose given the voting patterns are not radically different from the past for subordinate groups…as well as the increased activity that took place on both Twitter and Facebook after President Obama was announced the winner of the election….
What is interesting, Seattle, is that you posit white people voted for Romney BECAUSE he was white (because all white people are automatically racists according to you) but black people did NOT vote for Obama because he was black?
Of course the country voted along racial lines this past election. This is common knowledge. That includes blacks and whites. It was a huge sociological divide like I’ve never seen before and it was based on race. I’ve lived in North Carolina my whole life, and I never saw so many African Americans vote as I did in the 2008 election. They were proud that a black man had a chance at the White House. Why wouldn’t they be? They repeated the pattern in 2012. What’s wrong with that?
You are being defensive without cause. The point is in the fight against racism, it is not necessary to paint black people as saints. Because they aren’t. It is not necessary to align whites with Satan worshippers either. You are missing the point of why racism is wrong. We should not judge people based on race. PERIOD. It’s cruel and unjust.
This does not translate into all people who are black are perfect human beings. It does NOT translate into all Hispanics are versions of Mother Theresa. Or all Native Americans were extremely gentle nature-loving people when the Europeans arrived in America. Some Native American groups had perfected some gruesome forms of torture. Some groups of people in Africa (fact,,look it up) practiced cannibalism. But that’s NOT the point!
The point is not to judge millions of people you’ve never met on the basis of physical features. We are all imperfect and you don’t have to keep hammering away at the imperfections among caucasians. There are millions of them, as in ANY ethnic group. Let me say that again so it sinks in: ANY ETHNIC GROUP. But this is not the point.
The purpose of diminishing racism is to get past skin, eye shape, nose size, lip size, height, hair color, hair texture, length of ears, size of toes, how pointy the elbows are, eye color, length of eye lashes, inny or outy belly button, and see the human being inside the cellular makeup. Thanks for reading. 🙂
cordoba, I will not be entertaining your comments any further after this…troll as you may…
Look at the data…and if blacks for example only voted for Obama blindly because of race as many people have observed these accusations being made, then why haven’t black voters blindly stood behind black republican politicians the same? It’s insulting to say such a thing too. It’s beyond race for democrats and the data shows that clearly…though it may the case that some perhaps did, but certainly not all. And if you look back at the 2008 primaries between Clinton and Obama, there were plenty of black voters backing Clinton and not Obama if you want to zoom into within party support–and it was brutal between the Clinton and Obama supporters…. Not to mention, earlier or other black democratic politicians not receiving blind support from black voters just because they are black.
Good day…and all apologies for not leaving you any hippie stuff 🙁
Happy Thanksgiving Seattle! Aside from the holiday not depicted accurately historically, it is a day we can look at our lives objectively and give thanks for the good stuff. We can also hug family and friends and celebrate our diversity: Our religions may differ, our languages differ, our skin color may differ, our customs may differ, but we are all human beings. Diversity is way cool! 🙂
Thank you cordoba and happy holidays to you too–all very nicely said and agreed.
So much to be thankful for on my end and this year. This year I’m especially thankful for two very special women in my life who’ve managed to survive some incredible odds with more recent health issues…both of whom were teenage mothers and who’ve spent their entire lives doing for everybody else but themselves. Sometimes I think life steps in at the most unexpected times and forces people to stop and rest…for those who won’t slow down after the warning, perhaps leave something extra that limits their abilities to give all they have to everybody else and forces them to have no choice but to use some of what they would otherwise given to everybody else for themselves…. One is here in Texas and the other in California. When reunited with one in California, naturally our nostalgic memories were partially reminisced with music and thus, this would have to be the song of 2011 for me personally because of the earlier good memories that were captured so powerfully when played within the current time spent during the visit (there’s a hippie dose…): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGO9jNHH5Lw .
Much love and appreciation for diversity and humanity–and may we all continue to strive for the betterment of society, equality for all, and improved environments in which we live.
Best Wishes
Hopefully useful to the main post is that students in one of those clustered areas on the map were assigned to make observations on the night of the election. When assigned, nobody knew who the winner was going to be–they were just told to observe the outcome regardless of what their own political positions/orientations were and what the outcome would be. The students in these groups have been given one theoretical concept per week prior to put into use for their weekly observations. So by the time the night of the election came around they had many different angles to observe the outcome of the election from–regardless of the winner. These groups are incredibly diverse with relation to race and ethnicity, urban to rural, politically, and gender wise with relation to orientation, etc. From those who disclosed their political positions, approximately 1/3 were Romney supporters, 1/3 Obama supporters, and 1/3 not politically involved, interested, or independent. All very bright groups and collectively made excellent observations of what they saw that evening.
The general trend of what came from the groups collectively were the following:
People were politically cordial towards each other most generally prior to the announcement of the winner–regardless of which candidate they were personally voting for. Political orientations were kept more in the private/backstage realms and milieus.
Majority of the observations were reportedly made by observing both Twitter and Facebook simultaneously for approximately 3/4 of those who reported their observations. Almost all, regardless of what political orientation they had, reported that both Twitter and Facebook “blew up” after President Obama was announced the winner.
Regardless of the political positions or lack of, most observations reported seeing an explosion of racism, quite literally that they had not seen prior.
_________________
Prior to the announcement certainly students observed racist things in the larger or more general social surroundings, such as a doll of President Obama hanging by a lynch rope and so on. But to some degree, I think most of the students were somewhat sensitized to the degree of racism that had existed around them, meaning that seeing such overtly racist things was reduced to something as, “oh, it’s just those people” for the students from all groups. Annoying or offensive yes, but there was a cognitive distance or separation that created an “us” and “them” with “them”–overtly racist being the deviant outliers most generally.
What students from all groups reported was the shock in the overt racism they saw on both Facebook and Twitter, and in some cases in person if they were in a public social setting. Students from all groups reported that it had gotten so bad they shut down their Facebook either for a couple of days or indefinitely–it was too much.
They were asked to apply a theory to their observations and most used the “frontstage/backstage” theoretical concepts to describe their observations, which was very appropriate, as were the others. But when using these particular theoretical constructs, many had described they had viewed the backstages of many coming right out into the front right before their very eyes–sides of people they did not know had even existed. Some had reported that because of this, some friendships and even longtime friendships had been damaged or completely lost, because they did not know racism to this degree was held by those either they were friends with, or those they loved. These general observations came from students from all camps.
Students who were not politically involved reported it appeared to them that whites did not like seeing a President of Color in the white house and so on.
It was all very interesting and ironically very relevant to the main post. And I find this all very interesting because in our recent history colorblind racism was operating very heavily preventing much needed critical discussions on racial and ethnic relations and other issues of social inequality from taking place, yet this most recent election in particular seems to almost reflect a breaking point the nation needed to perhaps pop that colorblind bubble the U.S. was trapped in, on all sides. But then again, perhaps not. Perhaps after the dust fully settles on all sides, the colorblind, classblind. etc., culture may slowly rejuvenate itself and U.S. society may resume in a direction that again denies racism, classism, sexism, and other issues of social inequality are any longer problems and so on….
Before and after the elections I witnessed a whole lot of frontstage and backstage racism. Although this is not a truth, many opinionated voters blamed others for voting based on race. On social media this became very popular as I have seen. When someone wished for their favored nominee to win they would post a status or make a tweet saying something in favor of their canidate. And in a lot of cases would down grade their opponet, often based on race. For example, a boy would said “Obama Nation! All the way! The haters only want Romney to win because he is white!” This would take place both ways, whites claiming that blacks only wanted Obama to win because of his skin color. I know for a fact that this were not fair accusations for those whom were saying them. But in our society today many things are blamed on race, and on social media, people are protected by their computer screen so they can say whatever they wish to. From what I have seen, the ones saying such things are immature voters who are looking for attention and they are receiving it.
On the other hand when facebook and twitter are not present, people are more likely to particiapte in back stage racism. In a class room I have seen a group of people wispering to one another about which canidate they wanted to win or so forth, and secretly downing the other campaigner due to race. They do this in the back stage because there are others around that they are not prepared to stand up and face, as they would if they were making such accusations on social media.
After the election results were announced, I was shocked at the number of racist and offensive posts on my twitter and Facebook news feeds. Many of my “friends” and users I follow were outraged that President Obama was reelected and were very open about how they felt on the public domain. I know that this was a similar observation among my classmates and peers at my university as well. I believe this outpour of racist tweets and Facebook posts among Americans after the election is due to their belief that social networks are their own personal “backstage” or safe place to post whatever they believe, racist/offensive or not. I do not think that posters think about the effects that their posts and comments have on users that have opinions/views that differ from their own on the backstage. Social networks are very much a front stage setting, and should be treated as such. I think if users did realize this, many people would not post so openly about their racist and offensive beliefs.
After learning who won the election many of my friends and family were outraged. They made many racist comments and continued for a little while after. Even now when something relating to the election or what is on the news brings the racism out. Politics to start are an iffy subject, throw racism into mixture and it is a whole new degree of perplexity. You begin to view the true nature of your “friends.” When in reality we like to think that racism is no longer a problem but the truth is it is.
My family and friends are mixed race. I was surprise that one of my friends who is Black American updated his Facebook with “People didn’t vote for Obama because he is black.” There was other comments that he made along with others who stated they voted Romney. He also stated that now he would be able to go to school for free. He is already in school and receiving a Pal grant.
What I notice was that the lease educated or should I say the majority of the leased informed reacted in racial comments. My brother voted the first time and he made some racial comments.
Depending where you get your information, Obama lived a live with luxury. Many people believed that because Obama is half black he lived a life in poverty. This is white framing which was coming from all race. You may say some black Americans where racial profiling Obama.
@ Seattle:
Thank you for that link to the beautiful Fleetwood Mac song! You have good taste in music. Please go to Youtube and type in Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. It’s a song about the Kent State killings when students were protesting the Vietnam War. One of my favorite songs with much personal meaning as well as beautiful chords by Crosby, Stills and Nash {my favorite all time group}. I guess because I made those hippie comments you must think I listen to Frank Sinatra or something. LOL! No way. I grew up in the 70’s! Sincerely, Cordoba 🙂
Yes–good song and good band. The 70’s put out much good music, as well as many of the other decades. It’s neat how music can connect and/or unite people from very different walks of life. Through family on my mother’s side I actually grew up with Sinatra, the Mills Brothers, etc. along with different types of music…including polka….but heh. Thank you for sharing cordoba and have a good evening
On the night of the election everyone of evey race were pretty nervous and anxious to find out who would win. After finding out who won some people were exstatic and then there were some who was outraged. I observed that most of the people that were outraged was people other than people of color. There were racial slurs thrown around all over the internet and i couldn’t understand why. I believe that racism played a big role in the reactions people had towards our president winning.
From my stand point of veiw I noticed that the number of nasty tweets and facebook posts should be higher. Although, they did take into consideration of the worst ones but they all occumalated to be equally nasty for me. Before the election remarks were made on these social networks but the sites went booming as soon as Obama was re-elected. Most of the negative comments were from white people.
During the election I didnt see many comments prior except for the day and night of. But very shortly after Obama was elected, every social network possible was blown up, some positive but for the most part the comments were negative. Theres no doubt the reactions would have been different have Romney won. Some friends of mine claim to not be racist yet they make nasty remarks towards Obama winning etc. Also, many people when it comes to politics dont really follow thier own point of view, they rather follow their parents or someone they look up to. For example, I know alot of my friends are involved or even pay attention to politics or this previous election, but seeing everyone else bash Obama it didnt take long till I saw them doing it as well. And, as predicted, most of these people were white men and women.
And lastly, while I realize politics, and racism, are topics that can be very difficult to discuss most generally for many (especially the two combined), it is very nice that some folks mustered up some courage to share their thoughts and/or observations with relation to the main post, etc. To all the new commenters above–some great points made and thoughts left. Much to think think about here. Very nice job.
Throughout this whole election process i did notice a lot going on by how people aren’t just going to be voting politically but also because of the color of skin and so on.. This disgusts me thinking that just because of race, religion, etc… I know it could of been worse but i have been noticing not only through the internet but also just regular conversations between people how just because one person is this way they are going to vote.. I also understand that this world is not perfect and we are going to see it everywhere but its crazy how many of the people dislike who won just because the color of his skin and not because they disliked his thoughts or ideas. Well that is my thought!
These modern day examples of racism are a classic example of the backstage moving to the front stage. White people are seeing just black and white and instead of keeping it to themselves or within themselves they are bringing it to the front stage. With me being a black male these findings and results really don’t surprise me because it’s seen daily throughout all sorts of social media. I do find it funny however that most white people believe that black people voted for Obama because he is black. That is quite blasphemous and couldn’t be farther from the truth. I find it shocking that their first thought is one of race instead of asking us about the issues which we believe in for the candidate that we vote for. (Extra Credit)
The election is always going to upset someone. No matter who wins there will always be a great handful of people who will retalliate and post this through the internet. I believe what “you” say will not change who is elected. As much as you complain and say you want to move out of the united states you know you wont. I am not surprised to see the facebook posts and the twitter posts about the election expecially since numerous people are against having a “black” president. I believe the way they collected this information is unike and interesting.
“As much as you complain and say you want to move out of the united states you know you wont.” 🙂
There’s that, and then those who have began petitions to “secede” from the union…and even in Texas. And interesting, is a couple of the responses from a couple of Texas cities on the scenario of Texas were to seceding from the U.S.:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/14/white-house-secede-petitions-reach-660000-signatures-50-state-participation/
and a couple of the counter-responses shown in the article above:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/allow-city-el-paso-secede-state-texas-el-paso-tired-being-second-class-city-within-texas/cGFvBF17
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/peacefully-grant-city-austin-texas-withdraw-state-texas-remain-part-united-states/TDD212hQ
and here’s this too:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57548931/rick-perry-dismisses-texas-secession-talk/
and:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/texas-secession-petition-qualifies-for-white-house-response_n_2125159.html
on the other hand, given the incredible diversity of Texas, even though it is republican dominated, I am confident the large majority would not support such a thing even though there are that many signatures on the petition. And rather surprising, is Perry is not supportive either….
This was such an interesting study! Social networks and media have a huge impact on the election. I myself will see things on Facebook or youtube or even twitter that catch my attention and often change the way I see parts of the election. Yes, there are racist comments made, and yes, they need to stop. However, there are also positives from sites such as twitter. For instance, facts, graphs, and pictures can be instantly shared that give viable information. In reference to the negative comments made toward Obama’s race, this is proof that Front stage racism is becoming more common. People should be scared to make such racist comments because of not only how others will react, but also because it is immoral in today’s society. There will always be racism as sad as that is. However, I think an important point to be made is that the number of people that voted for Obama JUST because he is African American and they wish to support the power being given to that race, are about equal to the racist population that DID NOT vote for him because of his race. Racism is a huge problem and should be confronted and stopped. The people that used these racial slurs on a global social network should be confronted.
As soon as the election took place and the winner was announced, which obviously was Obama. Facebook and Twitter blew up with a bunch of hateful comments and photos. Some people even throwing out there that he is the anti christ and other hateful comments as such. I noticed white friends of mine that were voting for Romney were blaming all of the African Americans for voting strictly for Obama just because of his color. And vice versa, people were blaming whites for voting for Romney off the fact that he was just white. So both races in this fight were wrong for making these photos and comments about both canidates.
On the night of the election multiple people addressed the media and most young people felt as if they had to say tneir opinion. The reason that the southern states have more red dots is because the south voted more for Romney and angered them so they went to the media. I feel as if our youth is very tied into the backstage racism and will not confront and say their true feelings if in person, instead the media ie. computers, phones, twitter, and facebook give people a way to hide and use front stage racism because they are not in real life which leads to should anything at all be said on the web be taken seriously? No, if you can say how you feel behind a computer screen and yet when confronted face to face your opinion suddenly changes? Media is a way hiding and should not be taken seriously!
I feel like the election showed people just how ugly Amercia is. In how poeple “Freedom ” comes with price tag. The issues of color is only brought up to bring out negativety I feel like many people are making this into black against white thing, If we can deplet racism in ecsterminate the racial foundations of black white, amercia could be a better place not only for privilaged but for all people no matter skin color background are religion.
So many people are un educated about the whole presidential election. The day of the election I read so many status about Obama and if he won that certain people were moving to Australia , Netherlands or Canada . If those people would have simply done a little research they would have realized that most of those countries that they wanted to “move” to have many of the same laws as Obama is trying to reenforce . I don’t think it’s a bad thing to voice your opinion about what you believe in , but when it’s disrespecting someone such as the president of the United States it looks very trashy. My parents raised me on the belief that your political views or who you vote for is private and shouldn’t be talked about around peers. It has obviously changed quite a bit , again that’s okay it just needs to be done in an appropriate manner. Because I do believe that social media does influence people and who they vote for . I think this study was very interesting , I’m glad I got to read it !
More great observations I’m seeing. Very nicely done from all.
A couple of things came to mind one of which is, is the racism displayed on the Internet, or any type of hate for that matter, really that dangerous? Should it really be taken that seriously? For anybody interested, here is a good book on Cyber Racism authored by the same person who wrote the initial post above: http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Racism-Supremacy-Perspectives-Multiracial/dp/0742561585/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354288695&sr=8-1&keywords=cyber+racism . This is probably an important book for anybody to read, but especially if any of you are parents or will be parents in the future as more than likely (or have nieces, nephews, or other little loved ones you care about), as most or many children will be exposed to much of what you all have seen either currently or in the future. And the deception(s) of cyber racism is great in so many ways.
Also, a couple of bullying cases that resulted in suicides from Facebook/internet bullying: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/phoebe-prince-bullying-case_n_854446.html and http://abcnews.go.com/US/gay-teen-suicide-sparks-debate/story?id=11788128#.ULjO1WdZh48 .
If we are members of the dominant group it’s often too easy to assume none of this should be taken seriously at all as it doesn’t affect us in the same way it does subordinate group members. On the other hand, if we are members of the subordinate group(s), we are very much aware of the damages these things cause socially and the barriers they serve to create between groups, as well as the ways in which these seemingly unharmful behaviors serve to keep the power relations in place for the dominant group members in various ways. This almost, if not directly, goes into the same realm of the racist joking behaviors publicly displayed where whites often suggest it’s not harmful or it’s just out of fun, when in all reality all are displays of racism just communicated in a different fashion, etc.
So there’s the issue of public racism where at least we can see where people stand and the question(s) of how serious should we take these things…or the racism/bigotry being kept away from public eyes and securely held in the backstage, covert, which is very difficult to deal with also…both of which are damaging and can be difficult to counter and ultimately combat….
Anyway, very nice job to everybody above.
and I have not shared my own experiences of that evening. I was not on FB or Twitter. Actually I spend no time on either. So I cannot attest to what was going on that evening on those social network sites…of which may be a good thing it sounds?
My evening was spent with both immediate and extended white and black family members, of whom I was in a bet with. While Obama supporters, their bets were squarely placed on Romney and mine was the only one placed on Obama. The running was being watched on three different networks, including FOX News, of which they found to be actually entertaining for the first time ever (after Obama took the lead in Ohio that is…). Prior, they were all rubbing it in that Romney was in the lead…. When Obama was announced the official winner, there was shouts mixed with frustration of losing the bet coupled with intense excitement at the same time because Obama won the second term. It was all very funny and humorous on this end. Had Romney won, there still would have been intense mixed emotional responses displayed at the same time, just for opposite reasons….
And on more fun first hand observations–one of the things that I enjoy seeing in Texas during the holiday season is all of the Texas holiday flare from the cowboy Santa’s being put on display in yards to the reindeer antlers and Rudolph fuzzy noses being put on the vehicles…and even with some of the vehicles all decked out with working Christmas lights as they drive through town…it’s beginning to come out now in this general and surrounding areas we are in. So something more fun too….
I think election night showed us the real image of some our closest acquaintances. The moment that Barack Obama was re-elected the social networks went insane. Personally i have never seen so much hatred and negativity to a single outcome ever before. The racial frame definitely came into place that night. We had all the republicans that come from a long white racial frame saying some very nasty and harsh status on Facebook and tweets as well. I saw things such as “this country has gone down the drain once again because of foreigners and this n***** lovers” or “thats it im moving away for the next 4 years” i come to the conclusion do our lives really change because Barack Obama won? Absolutely not, personally i had neutral side between both candidates. We had Barack Obama who made a lot of promises towards the lower class and the immigration status in this country but fail to live up to those standards. On the other side Mitt Romney although he didnt necessary had a strong white frame background he wanted to live up and make this country a very “American Country” he did not support immigrants and i think that was his worst decision. This country was build in immigrants and hard workers and Mitt Romney was going against those values. The social networks really showed me and im sure others that our friends have a complete different sides and opinions when this politic topic came into place, alot of racism and negativity was shown that really blew my mind my mind away. A couple times i would reread the status or tweet and make sure that the person i claimed i knew so well actually said that. This issue reminded me of the Civil War and how the country was divided into North and South, because our country was definitely like that for a couple months and it will continue to be as we see states asking to be independent and such. Election night was basically an eye opener for me to actually see the other side of the people i claimed i knew so well.
First off by my point of view, the number of people used for this test was by far not enough. There are over 300 million people in the US, and the ratio of “racist” individuals to the overall population is not reasonable. My point of view is that the media once is again is just rattling up people by bringing up this racist view. Yes we cannot deny the existance of racist people in the US but neither can you go to say that this is a fair test.
I for one agree that the media went wild when Obama was reelected, and so did many individuals. But this just goes to show what kind of society we truly live in today. People are willing to go to the extent of insults over race rather than to look at the big picture, the idea that Americans voted, and Americans got what they asked for.
We cannot point the finger and say how racist people were reacting when the results purely got to show on what the American people really wanted, and I let the stats speak for themselves, simple as that.
The media just wanted to stir up the people and clearly they succeeded. The president has been chosen and now lets look forward at how this man will better our society, not the color of pigmintation that he was born with.
The few weeks leading up to the election, I saw enough racism acts from my twitter and facebook page to know not to even bother trying to put my input in on the election. People literally were cursing people out of why they felt Obama should not be re-elected into office. It was really sad to see, because it brought the racism that America hides behind into the public into social networking sites. People really showed how prejudiced they were toward our president and the people who stood behind him,they blamed him and others as their own scapegoat to why America is how it is now;The Authoritarian Theory. Most people were stating that their president was black while some people who were going for Mitt Romney stated slurs like “This Nigger is not doing anything to help us, so why the hell do you want him in the white house.” My question is why does Obama have to get all the racial slurs when he is trying to fix America and formal President Bush tore down America and the republicans have nothing to say about it?
I Think this is pretty sad peoples true colors come out in their times of rage. On my social media websites I saw comments such as “The flag colors are red WHITE and blue for a reason” I hate having to think that people hate the president mostly because he is black, it makes me uncomfortable not knowing if people have the same hattred for all black people on the inside. I am glad this kind of action in being brouht to the light though because it allows people who seem to belive that racism doesnt occur anymore to see that it in fact does and it is a issue we as a society have to deal with at some point if we ever want to truley be “united”
America is still severely racially divided and the election was clearly based on race to an extent. While most people believe it was a white racial frame that made this eletion race based is far from accurate. It is a fact that 93% of the entire black voting population voted for obama while only 43Tof whites voted for Romney. That doesnt seem like any white racial frame ive encountered. If anything it was the other way around.
This particular commenter had clarified that what was seen was a lot of anti-racist counter-framing going on during that evening and because race of the candidates was at the forefront, those who voted for Obama were operating out of an anti-racist counter-frame, including the whites who voted for him to some degree. In terms of black voters in favor of President Obama, there was some level of support for him due to race with regard to Black solidarity that did make their support for President Obama more significant than the support of past white candidates.
Addressing the counter-framing that was going on is important too. 🙂
America is still and always be racially divided and segregated. But i think in the future it can only get better from here on out it cant get any worse than it have already. We have a black president so you can see where things have already made change beccause 50 years ago you couldnt never imagine having a black president which is about to serve his 2nd term as the us president. race was a factor in the election because americas made it that why because mostly white were voting for romney because he was white and black voted for obama cause hes black. But also their were people that voted for the president who they thought fit the way they live and can help them thoughtout their lives and the next four years
The things I seen on the night of the election was shocking to me, that night I saw friends go against each other I seen people on twitter and face book talking about killing their self. Most people is saying that all African American people voted for Obama because he was black and that all whites voted for McCain because of their race. According to he say she say most whites did not want a black president to be over us again because they fell like blacks are going to take over and I heard that most black people wanted the black president to win again to show that things are changing and that black people are about to strive. I don’t think none of this is true. I have never seen so many people who they voted for on social networks before this year. I did post on face book but what I posted is what I wanted the world to know why I voted this year I wrote it’s not about the race this year and why I voted but it’s about the person who cares about people like me and that I am thankful for a person that cares and I am glad they are running this year.
The only problem with this comment is that nobody voted for McCain in the 2012 election, because the Republican candidate was Romney. I know it’s kind to reach out to all people on sites like this, and nobody wants to be elitist. But not even knowing who the candidates were in the 2012 election, does tend to make the reader question the credibility of this commentator.
It makes you question the credibility cordoba so speak for yourself.
“nobody wants to be elitist” translation, “I’m not a racist, but”
We all make errors and I am notorious for typos, errors, etc. and I too have certainly referred to Romney as McCain at least a couple of times in discussions on politics during this last election–especially when exhausted. Some people don’t have the privilege of being a Suzy homemaker and working part-time side jobs just for fun or extra income and using their extra time to hang on a website and troll for leisure…and on top of it, to self proclaim to be an expert in the very things we don’t even study. Some people actually work full-time jobs that involve incredible emotional labor, go to college full-time, deal with other issues coupled with with racism on top of it all, on an everyday basis.
Please leave the commenters in this particular section of the site alone.
Hi Suzy Homemaker!
So it’s ok for you to extrapolate and “guess” my intent, but if I do it regarding another commentator,,I’m a privileged troll?
First of all, I work 7 days a week. I own my own tutoring business. I can’t afford to sip wine or “hang around” in my Birkenstocks (like you do) go to restaurants,bars, movies, like most people do on the weekends. I have to work to pay my huge health insurance premiums because I had breast cancer 10 years ago and I’m afraid to drop the insurance. I was in stage 3 cancer when diagnosed and feel fortunate to be alive.
I’ve been divorced for 13 years. I am responsible for myself in every possible way. My mother is dead, my father is dead. My brother suffers from a serious bi-polar disorder and lives in another state, so I can’t depend on him for any emotional or other support.
My daughter lives in the northeast. But my son lives in the same town I live in. That helps, because he really loves me and he does repairs on my house, which is 72 years old and basically falling apart every other week. I also get to see his son ( my grandson) almost every day. That helps alot.
I don’t have a boyfriend,,probably couldn’t make the time to see one if I did.I am pretty much on my own with my son in the city I live in. He and his son are my only family in the entire state of North Carolina.
I’m not complaining. I love my students and they give me much more than I give them. They are funny and sweet and wonderful and have taught me so much about life. I love my 7 month old grandson and love watching him grow. I also feel very blessed that I even have a job.
But since I was fortunate enough to PUT MYSELF THROUGH COLLEGE with various jobs and the help of a loan, I’ve always been a full time teacher, but 5 years ago switched to tutoring. Nobody goes into the teaching profession to make alot of money. They do it because they love children and the creative, exciting process of teaching.
But leisurely Suzie Homemaker without a care in the world? Attend garden clubs and Tupperware parties? Nope. I don’t do that. Never have. I spend evenings, after I do get in from work, reading.I have probably over a few thousand books piled up everywhere around my dusty house. That’s the way I LIKE IT!Me and my books!
You, however, are so hell bent on judging anybody white that you always assume white people (EXCEPT YOURSELF OF COURSE)are all shallow self-serving demons modeled after Soap Opera characters just floating through life without a care in the world “shopping dear” at the nearest mall.
I assume this will fall on deaf ears. So go roll a joint and return to your “part time side job just for fun or extra income”. I intend to read my book about World War II Operation Overlord ( do you know what Operation Overlord was Seattle? Didn’t think so,,,,Sigh,,)
Thanks ejh013 for your important comment on these conflicts on the social media, and on why many people voted for Obama.
Very Clearly, Cordoba blue, ejh013 meant Romney in this post, and given the time posted, was probably a bit tired like I am at that hour. The message of this post is also clear: Many people voted for Obama not because he was black, and against Romney not because he was white, but because Romney constantly made it clear he was out of touch with ordinary people, and most especially people of color like this commentator. For the most part, Romney seemed/seems very uncomfortable outside the confines of rich white folks and their expensive toys.
I think it’s interesting the people that used social media to express thier grief and blame of the election. Being that you choose your friends and followers on these social media it seems the public was using backstage racism with out even knowing it.
The whole observations of people blaming each other for why they voted for which candidate is so interesting and I do believe is a pretty good indicator that racism is definitely not a thing of the past.
The messages from the different candidates resonated with groups quite differently as suggested by the voting patterns. Given President Obama got the majority votes from subordinate groups, his messages were likely interpreted as more inclusive of all people by those who voted for him…and not much different from past white democratic candidates and presidents. Many Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, religion, how many generations they’ve been in the U.S. or if they are first, and so on, want a leader who will represent and protect their groups–not the opposite. And given some proportion of whites did vote for Obama, that indicates they do not feel threatened that they will not be represented politically or their rights and privileges will be threatened in any way. All very interesting.
Great comments from all above–very nicely done
Per the request of Mrs. Griffith concerning a journal entry I wrote, Teach asked that I post my comment off of a Facebook I made during the 2011 Presidental Election, aimed at all the people that stating their seperation from America:
“I’m kind of disappointed in everyone who is complaining about the results. We are f**king Americans,we aren’t citizens of Germany, Mexico, or China, we are true blue Americans, so don’t go saying you are moving out of America. What does it matter if Obama won or if Romney would of won? I don’t hear people complaining about how the results of the House of Representatives or Senate came out. You forget th
e President of the United States does not run the U.S. All the branches of power run the U.S. The legislative, executive, and judicial branches run this country. So if you want to blame someone don’t go scapegoating any President. If s**t isn’t going right in America, blame it on every branch not just one. Our fore fathers tried to set the government up to where the House and Senate were suppose to run the country…so why aren’t you complaining about how things are run there? It’s easy to blame one guy, Republican or Democratic, who is suppose to be the savior of this nation, but it’s the House and Senate that make the decisions that run our lives. If you don’t agree with the President, then endure and work to make the best life you can for yourself, because that’s what we do as Americans through times of struggle and strife. Don’t let politics run you out of America, because then the Asian guy on the commercial saying WE THE PEOPLE work for him, is true. Be here, work hard, and struggle to wake up in a country where you are happy and thankful you don’t wake up to the sound of gunfire and bombs, and have be afraid of the oppression of government for what you say and do. We can fear and hate your government all you want, it doesn’t matter. Because are love and passion for flag and country should far out way the idea of fear and hate for government.”
@ Chevy_Chase: Thank you for saying this:”Be here, work hard, and struggle to wake up in a country where you are happy and thankful you don’t wake up to the sound of gunfire and bombs, and have be afraid of the oppression of government for what you say and do.”
But not to worry Chevy. Nobody intends to leave America.Not the anti-racists who claim, “I refuse to live in a white supremacist society!” and then continue week after week to post on here from deep in the heart of America.
Not the right wingers who claim they can’t “tolerate four more years of a progressive minded black president!” They’re not going anywhere either. They can “Boo-hoo” til the sun goes down, but that will be the extent of it.
Not the Hispanic immigrants who unfortunately work for pennies in the hot sun in California farms picking berries and tomatoes. The will fight deportation til their dying breath because the Mexican government is even more corrupt and indifferent to their plight than the American government is.
Not the liberals who claim “Life is so much better in Europe. Why, the Germans {those tolerant altruistic people} have acknowledged their racist past, unlike the stinky Americans. There’s even a Holocaust Memorial in the center of Berlin!” Wow! Imagine that. Well, that seals the deal. If they have a Holocaust Memorial they MUST be paragons of humility and virtue.
African Americans are not traveling in droves to Africa, where there are so many corrupt African leaders of various countries there, that genocide is committed on a daily basis. Where billions of dollars of aid has been shipped by the USA to “mysteriously” disappear under the hats of black leaders, never to arrive where it was intended to.
Thus, virtually millions of African citizens have perished unnecessarily. The AID WAS THERE donated by many countries, actually, but after it reached black government officials, like the Bermuda Triangle, “Nobody knows what happened to the lost shipments.” And citizens were afraid to speak up because of government reprisal. In one village, so many people were killed on a regular basis (a student of mine from Africa told me this) that relatives would check garbage dumpsters each morning to look for missing family members.
“The Mother Land” has been anything but maternal within the last 50 years.
People who lived through the Communist regime in Russia are also very grateful, if they have the strength to leave their relatives to begin a new life in America. I tutor a 6th grader from Russia. His family is Jewish. When the Soviet Union was in power, the practice of ALL RELIGIONS was discouraged. The State was supposed to be your “religion”.
So fear no more! You needn’t lose any sleep over Americans moving anywhere. As bad as things get in North America, everybody knows America is the “last great hope” for the planet. People feel safer here than any place else on Earth. Leave the US? Talk is cheap,,,let ’em complain as is their right to,,but nobody’s packin’ suitcases or buying cross-Atlantic life boats.
I think this study was interesting, but not really reliable. Of all the social media racism that I saw none of it dealt with the word monkey or the n word. The worst things I saw were “the White House is white for a reason”, and “bet you’re glad to keep all your food stamps”. The food stamps thing was not geared just towards blacks, but I know some people meant it toward minorities while others were talking about everybody. Also I would like to point out that even though the more concentrated areas of social media racism is in the southeast, racism exists everywhere. I think in the southeast frontstage racism is more prevalent, and racism is dealt with in the backstage in the other areas. In the west and the north colorblind racism exists, but in the southeast we know racism exists and we face it everyday instead of ignoring it. I’m not defending the south’s racism but just trying to point out that just because it is more blunt here, doesn’t mean there is less in the other areas, and statistics like these drive the stereotypes of the southeast.
The election definitely brought out peoples true colors. It showed that racism is still in full effect. A lot of people used Facebook and Twitter as their backstage. The people who have been friends all there life suddenly had a change of heart, and were going at each others throats just because of the results of the election. There were a lot of “n” words, and saying how just because Obama won blacks can keep there food stamps, and if Romney were to be President he would bring slavery back, and also how people only based there vote on the color of there skin. In my hometown there were people at the post office with a picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache and they also had a sign that said “if you want to impeach Obama stop here”. Also someone put Obama figures (dolls) at a gas station with a noose around his neck. I heard a lot of people saying how they were going to leave the United States because he was reelected. The election was over and people still were arguing about it. Whats done is done you cant change it until the next election.
this years election was very annoying. so much racial framing. so many feeling that just because Romney is white, he will win it all. I had been avoiding the social networks as well. they are not focusing on what Obama and Romney plan is but the color of their skin. “white, black, white, black, Obama didn’t do anything, Romney is taking financial aid, Obama isn’t going to change, Romney cant answer questions, Obama raised taxes.” where was the positive things for me to choose from. fronts stage, back stage, its all being used. everybody’s talking in their own way. i was personally glad once it was all over.
I agree with sky16. There was alot of racial framing from young people who didn’t really know a lot about the election. I remember getting on twitter and facebook after the election and seeing a lot of opinions and racial slurs. I think there was more negativity on social networks than what this site shows. Young people just took the color of the canidates skin and ran with that idea. Having immature teenagers mixing with a president election just didn’t help.
First of all, I think it’s remarkable what Twitter’s evolved into, and that it’s actually a sociologic analysis tool now. But I believe it worth noting that social media hasn’t been analyzed so specifically in any election before this one, and that 395 is a relatively small number when looking at the big picture. Granted, I’m sure that number would be a lot higher had the search criteria been more moderate. But all-in-all, I think Twitter and Facebook are the definitions of a public backstage. People can now let the world see their ignorance and racism without having to say it to anyone’s face or be met with confrontation. I’d like to see any of the 395 that tweeted, take a competence survey on the election and see if any of them score adequately. Although, this doesn’t change the fact that race is clearly still an issue in America, I just believe it to be an issue nobody REALLY wants to talk about.
Yes, as a couple of folks have noted, the social media are treated by many whites as a backstage area where they can show their real racist frame. Yet they are often , obviously, public….The data in this study is similar to that reported in our book Two Faced Racism: Whites in the Frontstage and Backstage, we report on 7500 accounts from everyday diaries by white college students at two dozen colleges of very racist and mostly backstage events they and their friends and relatives participate in. Such extensive backstage and overtly racist activity (likely billions of such racist events for all whites as a group per year) shows how inaccurate notions of “liberal/tolerant white youth,” and a post-racial America are. These notions are often part of a contemporary white racial frame that operates, as it always has, to make whites feel virtuous and to rationalize a still highly racist society.
It’s only obvious that a predominantly white area will make harsh racial comments. I white person living in a predominantly african-american area would make those remarks because they would know they will have problems coming to them. Its like white people that live in an area of another race, knows what to say and what not to say.I think this is very accurate. Although I dont feel that all Caucasians are racist, its obvious that they feel comfortable discriminating others (not in there race) to someone as the same race. I have expirienced many situations hearing white people as a group, talk about african americans, but once a black person approaches, they change the subject. African Americans are used to put all the blame on. (Scapegoating) For example, “the economy is all messed up, but its Obama’s fault because he is black”, and saying that we need a new president. But when Bush messed up the economy, white people didnt say it was because he was “white” did they? This world is just all messed up, but the dominant race fails to realize it.
It was interesting to see how people express their racial views through the social media. As soon as Obama was re-elected, racists posts were showing up left and right and lasted pretty much all night long. It’s sad how this great nation has become a racial divide. I’ve learned that everyone carries some form of racism inside them, and the social media is just a means of expressing it. Some posts, especially from friends of mine, really surprised me, because in person they never express their racists views but I guess it has become accepted to use social networks to do so.
I agree with people speaking their minds about the racial tweets. The tweets are just drama to me because its from a social cite which people get on to be nosey and just to start arguments or because they’re bored. This racism should be left in the past. Its a new generation and laws are already made out to make everyone equal and nothing is going to change that either if our president is black or white. We are all the same.
Hi hklmop,
I know your heart’s in the right place. But,you must be one of those people who believe that American law doles out justice in an unbiased manner. Racism pervades every aspect of our legal system. Judges in court rooms right down to the cop on the street beat use liberal amounts of punishment when they see a black face.
Loan officers at banks take out a separate file called “The Black Stipulations” when they are interviewing a black candidate for a loan. White women role up their car windows and lock their doors when they are stopped at a stop light and see a black man approaching. Store owners whisper to their employees “Watch him/her” when a black person walks into a store.
When a black person tries to cash a check at a bank the teller requires not 2 but 3 or 4 forms of ID because after all “you never know when a black person is going to pull a fast one”. If a black man rings a white doorbell, people keep the screen door locked, while waiting for him/her to state the reason they are there.
Teachers don’t bother explaining details about the SAT’s or the college interview or application to black students because “they’re not going to college, so what difference does it make?” Employers accept black job applications, but tell the hopeful employee, “We’ll file this and call in the future” having no intention of contacting the black applicant.
Apartment managers routinely tell potential black tenants the apartments are already rented. Else, they “examine” the application and claim some detail is not acceptable. “We don’t allow pets, even cats.” “We don’t allow people to work on their cars in the parking lot. It makes a mess.” “We don’t allow people to play music in their apartments after 11:00 pm.” “We don’t allow children on the playground after 7:00 pm.”
When a black person applies for social security disability benefits they need to bring a doctor’s report, birth certificate, driver’s license, note from employer, note from former employers, notarized statements and maybe even a box of caramel candies for the social security personnel to make the beaurocracy go quicker.
On paper this activity is illegal but there’s always a method to avoid or look for loopholes and unfortunately African Americans fall down every single one of those holes. But your belief that racism should be left in the past is honorable. Thanks for posting.
I agree with the opinion on the racial tweets. I understand that we live in a country where freedom of speech is important and used every day, but I do not think that just because we have that right in place it justifies society’s blatant disrespect of our president. The comments that are made are normally only said in individual’s backstages in the utmost comfortable places where they are surronded by people who think and look very similar to themselves. Now, it is as if the backstage has disappeared and everything that they would normally never say in public is being said. I think that it is ridiculous how acceptable we have come with disrespect. It shouldnt be a matter of the color of an individual, but the fact is that whether he is African-American or not he is our president.
Notice too the level of violence in many of these tweets, wishing the president ill in many forms. I don’t remember previous presidents getting such violent language and threats, do you?
Here is a good blog post on the extremism and violent talk: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/09/1168521/-Right-Wing-Extremism-and-Obama-s-Reelection-Will-There-Be-Blood
its crazy how rasicim hasnt changed at all. you seen the truth when election time came and how people were showing hangings of obama and saying make america back to old america, rasicim will exist forever and never leave no matter what people say. This country was based on whites being above everyone and we seen what they were saying during the election process
Many people look at our President and the first thing they say/think is black. Our President is black! Instead of looking at what he has to offer us and how he can help us become a better nation, those people are stuck on the color of the skin. Color-blind racism doesn’t allow you to look past what’s on the outside to know what’s on the inside, not only in the election but in our day lives as well!
The main issue is that since Facebook and Twitter are online, people can’t judge you personally. They feel as if they can say whatever they want because it is a free country. But this country is also meant to be for changes and advancements. It seems as if people haven’t changed at all. Till this day people are still judging others by their race or their color but not their individuality. “Color blind theory has proven to be the main tribute inequality pays to the principle of equality in our national life.” People are still stuck in the old mind set and are not willing to open their horizon or adapt to the new culture.
I witnessed many of the nasty remarks when President Obama was reelected into office. I never knew that people could be so rude to say some of the things that they sad. Before he is a black man he is a human being and should be treated as such. Respect should be given to everyone regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality. The color blind theory still exists because the people that were saying the rude comments do not think anything is wrong with it when everything is wrong with it. The states with the most dots were in the southern states and thats because those were the slave states and many people that live in those states still say to feel as if they have a “plantation mentality”.