Nappy Headed Black Child

There are a lot of people who feel like black people voted for Obama more so on the basis of skin color than qualifications of policy and needless to say are upset about that. 

Now I don't think the above assumption is incorrect however to be upset about it i think is rather short sighted in its own right. Consider the history of black people in this country. 

Slavery

Segregation

Jim Crow

Cointel Pro

State Supported Racism

In light of these things which by no means is an exhaustive list, black america is distrusting of government and any of its affiliates (i.e. police, politics, stuff like that).  

So what do we do when government isn't working in the manner that we feel it should those who have had the benefit of an education get involved politically. We vote, we lobby, we protest or we run for office ourselves right? Well lets factor in the above list, inequity of opprotunity in schools and in the workplace, and crumbling of "black"/minority communities. From where I sit its very difficult to justify investing any time or energy into the government when it seems that government doesn't care anyway. 

Is it not government's job to care for its people that have given up some of their personal soverignty to establish it? I mean that's social contract theory 101

Well that depends who you talk to. And whether or not that happens depends on who's elected. Which brings me to my next point. Government is a tool. Goverment is a reflection of those in power and those who understand the use of its input mechanisms (voting, lobbying, special interest groups). Those happen to be people who make enough money to donate to elections, employ people to lobby for them, or have the free time and financial comfortablity to do politics all day.

You dont see many minorites on the national political stage doing something furthering the stigma of perpetual government corruption. 

So which brings us to this election. So in a political climate hostile to republicans you've got a guy whos a democrat talking change and he sounds genuine and hes got a what seems to be a plan. Thats all fine well and good. But he black too (as well as several other things). Now this is a man who inherits the legacy of slavery, segregation, jim crow, et. al. running for office saying im gonna change things. In light of that can you blame someone for voting becasue he's black just merely because he inherits that same legacy and understands the struggle of having skin that isnt white (whether you accept that or not). Just genuinely put yourself in that position and ask why sometimes.