Why Should Skin Color Have Anything To Do With Who You Vote For?

22 Jun, 2004 by John Hawkins

Print this article Font size -16+

This sort of attitude, common though it may be, has always really bugged me,

“Young black Americans — the “hip-hop generation” — need to turn their emotional rhetoric into political action, most importantly by voting on Election Day, a gathering of black activists said on Saturday.

The activists were among 3,000 people who met in Newark, New Jersey, for the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, which ended on Saturday. Their mission: educate, motivate and unite young black Americans so they can elect more black politicians.”

Notice that they’re not trying to motivate young black Americans to elect people who represent their interests, they’re trying to get them to “elect more black politicians”. What, white Americans can’t represent their interests? Ted Kennedy or Diane Feinstein can’t represent the interests of black liberals just as well Charles Schumer or Elijah Cummings because of their skin color?

Most of us, if we knew a white guy who said, “My goal is to elect more white politicians” or “Colin Powell doesn’t represent me as Secretary of State because he’s black,” would trash him, and rightfully so, as a racist.

Moreover, this sort of thinking is why places like Afghanistan are such hellholes. “So what if he looks at things the way I do? I’m a Tajik and he’s a filthy Pashtun! No Pashtun can represent a Tajik!” We should be beyond that sort of attitude in a country like the United States.

That’s why people who believe America should be a colorblind, who believe that people should be judged on their merits, not their skin color, should stand up and speak out against these sorts of backwards, racist attitudes, no matter what the color of the person holding them is.