I would like to qualify that yes some presidents are using racism and stereotypes to gain votes in the poles. The African Americans of the United States haven’t forgotten the civil rights movement. Most of the baby boomers have lived through it and are relaying the stories to their children and grandchildren. I believe that what President Carter said in the Article was right. The politicians have been using racism for years to appeal to whatever percentage of the population still lives within the confines of black and white. I also can’t believe both Newt Gringrich and Rick Santorum when they say that they were not making comments specifically about black people. I can understand Gringrich’s defense but that does not change the fact that he explicitly used those terms. But Santorum really has no excuse. In fact, his was the worst defense that I have seen him make so far.
I understand that a lot of people just term blacks as being too sensitive. But can you really blame us? I think that you would do the same thing after being discriminated against for at least 300 years (I counting years prior to the American Revolution). But I digress; this use of racial stereotypes is applied throughout politics and is open to all races. Even President Obama said during a campaign speech that we should try to get more work so that we don’t rely on the Japanese and Chinese to make everything for us. This is again buying into the stereotypes that we have laid out for everyone. While it is true that right now the most commonly used stereotype is blacks, politicians usually refer to Hispanics when they debate about illegal immigrants and we have even given the politicians certain stereotypes and criteria to meet to fit into that specific stereotype.
While we learn about race in class, it’s so different when it’s applied in real life. Politics is known to be a dirty business and you shouldn’t play unless if you don’t want to get a little bit of mud on you. Politics tends to adjust terms and phrases just right so that the politician can appeal to any audience that they want. I think that the use of stereotypes are used all the time in politics. I mean Chicago is one of the most racially segregated cities in America. The reason for this: politics and the mentality of the general public. I think that politician generally just use stereotypes as a stepping stone to get what they want regardless of what happens to the examples and races that they use.
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