Judging by Race

I was sorry to read in the current news headlines over at WBZ a story with this headline "Latino group endorsement in race sparks criticism". The story notes in part that "A Latino political group is taking heat for not endorsing a Latina candidate running for the House seat vacated by former speaker Salvatore DiMasi."

I asked in an earlier post entitled "The persistence of racism?" :

What about the fact that "84% of black voters identify themselves as Obama supporters". Isn't this a little racist? Shouldn't the media do some investigating and ascertain why Obama has such a high level of support from the Black Community and why McCain does not? I am sure it is not due to race.

My point from that quote (to tie it to this WBZ story) is that the media don't assume that the support Obama enjoyed from the African American community was racist. It was expected that a high number of African Americans would support Obama (no one would ask why though)? I assume it is not based on the assumption that the African American population is not diverse in its thought. But doesn't it strike anyone strange that it is assumed that a segment of the population would support a candidate based solely on race? Why is it assumed in the WBZ story that all the Latino political group would support the Latino candidate based solely on race? What if the Latino candidate supports an end to affirmative action or is tough on immigration..should Oıste be expected to support that candidate if the candidate's individual beliefs run counter to the groups' goals?

We are making a lot of assumptions about race and getting on some slippery territory. For example, we didn't expect all the white people to vote for John McCain during the last election. Why do we expect any other 'group' to act any differently? I don't recall seeing a huge swell of support from the African American community when Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court. I don't think Alan Keyes got a lot of support nationwide either. Where was the media on these stories?

Finally, when are we going to remove our fascination with group or identity politics and live up to the ideals this country was founded on?

Outspoken Roman