Because unfortunately for most people in america; black is a color, regardless of a person's background. Obama and Tiger have always been treated by members of society as a black person.
When I first saw the announcement with Obama picture and "President-Elect Barack Obama", I took a double take to make sure it wasn't a commerical. I had to process that in my mind to make sure it was what I was seeing. Immediately, chills went down my spine and realized he won. I'll never forget that moment. I wasn't 100% sold on Obama and was a Hilary Clinton supporter. I was leaning towards Independent but the debates steered me back to Democrat. I was still having second thoughts in the line, waiting to vote. I decided to believe in this individual right there. You will disappoint me Barack Obama and that's expected for any president but don't disappoint me too much. I believe in change so make it happen, Mr. President! P.S. I'm very happy for my african americans and whites since Obama is half black. Hey, it's a progess to pave the way for full african american, hispanic, asians and purple presidents! I'm so glad I got to witness this history. I have a newfound confidence in America now. God bless America.
In my lifetime...I never dreamed that there would be a politician that made me look at my own kids differently. How lucky they are! What a treasure it is to live in this time! A dream we dream together...
rockbox is right. The racial/ethnic makeup of Tiger Woods is one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. His Asian heritage (Chinese + Thai) is the most dominant one at 50%. Little known is that Tiger's father, Earl Woods, is himself one-quarter Chinese.
if tiger woods was some guy standing on the street, oh never mind I just think it depends on who the individual identifies with more nowadays
I am glad. So, if some African American person ever tells me they cant do something because racism. Then ill remind them of our new president and they should no longer have an excuse. You want something, you work for it.
I don't understand why the color of a person's skin should make a difference. I don't understand why a person should be proud to be black, or white, or whatever. I'm an American same as all Americans. Equal regardless of color. Color of a person's skin doesn't even cross my mind when I meet a someone new and my kids have been taught that the color of a person's skin doesn't matter. I'm happy for Obama and hope he does a good job as president for America... not just the blacks, or the poor, or the special interest, or his contributors... for all americans regardless of color, creed or class.
I'm with you. Let's turn the dream into reality. Reading this today brought tears: "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" MLK
It may have taken a perfect storm to overcome the color of his skin, and certainly he had to be nearly perfect....but nevertheless, it happened. And the impact that this should have is beyond enormous...not just for America, but for the world in which the last 500 years has been dominated by the color (or lack of) of one's skin. Obama will be the anti-stereotype that will forever make those question their bias and misconceptions while at the same time reinforcing the very ideals that every patriotic American clings to - that no matter what obtacle - an individual can rise up in the land of opportunity. Race will never be inconsquential because it's part of our nature to discriminate against those who are different in any way...but this moment has the potential to open doors - such as Jackie robinson did for baseball - he too was nearly perfect and had to be to get into baseball, but look what he ushered in. I can only wonder how out world will change in the next 4 years because of this moment. Perhaps some will be disappointed, but regardless, it's going to make things very interesting.
I look at this two ways, he either won on default because the election was really a referedum on the perceived failures of the other party, or, in a really crucial time (war & economy) the country chose to elect its first minority president to lead it.
It was both but to what extent will be a subject of debate for a long time. Given the polls a year ago showing generic Democrat beats generic Republican clearly much of this was a referendum on the last eight years of Republican rule. Still Obama ran a masterful campaign and his cool and calm presence was perfect for the uncertainties recently. I guess the only way to figure this out would be if another Democrat especially a white man could've won this race. Short of looking into an alternate reality I'm not sure.
