Ta-Nehisi Coates had a great conversation with Ezra Klein on Ezra's podcast recently about the issue of race in America (among other topics) and specifically refuting the logic that an Obama-Trump voter by definition can't be racist since they voted for a black candidate.
His point on this issue was that there is no way that a black person who acts like Trump and had his past and record would have a prayer of being elected President. On the other hand, Obama had to have a spotless record of character to be elected.
In other words, you don't have to hate all black people to be racist. You simply have to hold blacks to different standards than whites.
By that definition, America is most definitely still a very racist country.
Here's the link to a partial transcript. http://www.vox.com/conversations/2016/12/19/13952578/ta-nehisi-coates-ezra-klein
I think there's no doubt this is true. The closest equivalent to a black Trump would be Al Sharpton, and look at how spectacularly Sharpton failed in his 2004 Presidential bid. He didn't even win the black vote, and obviously did pitifully among whites even in the Dem primary (imagine how badly he would have done in the general if he had somehow won the nomination).
Yeah but no way Trump gets elected in 2000 or 2004 per say. It was just his "time" to get elected President.
Obama didn't have a spotless record since he was in Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years.
