11/14 West Post: Evan

I found the reading from West to be particularly interesting post-election. To say you supported the Republican agenda did not mean that you were racist against President Obama. Nor did supporting the Democratic agenda mean someone voted such a way because President Obama was black. Unfortunately, this thought was often denounced by news stations and talk show hosts, and no doubt in order to stir up drama or simply take up air time. To most people the color of the candidates' skin was irrelevant, however there was a contingent of people who aimed to reinforce the racial hierarchy West speaks of. He says on page 628, "There is no escape from our interracial interdependence, yet enforced racial hierarchy dooms us as a nation to collective paranoia and hysteria--the unmaking of any democratic order." This video may be cliche, or maybe even out of date, however I feel it demonstrates the division and possibly reason for perpetuation of racial division in politics and society. Instead of focusing on political agendas and unity, the president has been reduced to a color. "To engage in a serious discussion of race in America, we must begin not with the problems of black people but with the flaws of American society..." (628).