SO THE time has come when a black man has been empowered to rule the world's most powerful country as the front-page report trumpeted on Thursday, 'Obama's day''. It is a monumentally important occasion because it is symbolic of what this black man represents in society today, and that is - possibility.

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Originally Posted by Shaun Lim

Do we judge people because of their race, appearance or religion?

not just race, appearance or religion. he is even more inclusive than that. Except for gender (which may be not longer needed to be mentioned in USA), I believe he pretty much covered everyone.

Originally Posted by Obama speech

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled --

The fact remains that America has unfortunately allowed too many immigrants to invade, lilke blacks, Asians, Hispianics, Muslims, etc. All these people will obviously vote for a black man if he is in the fray. That is human psychology. Since these people are now in majority a black man could win elections. If Singapore allows more and more Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis to come in and become citizens, the next prime minister can be one from these groups. Chinese will become irrelevant.

to post # 3

Aww come'on, I don't think a narrow minded approach to instill fear and insecurity would really help here. It just shows how unprepared you and your likes (in mentality) are still harbouring in the aged old era where looking at a person's skin colour with a pinch of prejudical thoughts is a way to go.

Seriously, our national system of racial integration has not help alot but , as layered out the image that no matter what, society ,as our authorities have been doing, will always be race conscious. Thanks to their policies that never did eliminate the problem but pasted a false facede over the inconvinient truth.

To add to Nazryn81/post#4 on post #3 ... It is also a fact that many of these immigrants have contributed greatly to American economic and scientific advances, helping to keep America in front.

People who are different may and should be welcomed, if they add value (and not just in monetary terms) and agree to abide by the rules/laws/working_cuture of the host country.

As far as leadership selection is concerned, I have already commented previously as such: it is more important to choose one with integrity and sound judgement, over one with experience ... this regardless of race, language or colour. And I think Obama is the best choice of the candidates in the recent election.

In a way, I think race played a part in this recent election. To what extent it played a part? I don't know.

But if we suspect that there are white supremacists who voted for McCain because Obama is black, it should equally be possible that there are blacks who voted for Obama simply because he is a 'brother'.

The only thing that one may rejoice is that history has been made as the US has its first black president. It is also true that we should not stereotype any particular race as being superior to the other.

With this in mind, we should also note that competence or incompetence crosses racial line. A white president can be incompetent, but so can a black president. Obama will be tested pretty soon, and we will see how well he performs. He may be better than Bush( I mean, almost any former president, Republican or Democrat, could have been better than Bush). But, I am not too sure how well Obama measures up when compared with the other former US presidents. We shall see.

Meanwhile, it is definitely no fun being the US president at this time of economic recession. McCain's loss could be a blessing in disguise.

#4

You mean like how Singapore is a country where the majority is a minority in a very race concious neighbourhood?

America doesn't face an threat from a hostile nation that can do them in completely. Their neighbours are docile Canada and Mexico with an ocean seperating them from the nearest potential hostile power. They can afford to overlook tribe and race when it comes to choosing the national leader.

Singapore however... well just look at Umno and Indonesia using us as a bogeyman. Then try convincing the elctorate to vote in someone of the same race, religion and language of a hostile neighbour.

and please dont forget obama is not pure black. he is only half black with a white mother. seems like nobody mention that he is only half black and prefer to just label him as a black man.

Talk is cheap, hopefully he is able to walk the talk! Obama appears to me as a feel-good motivational speaker. On a positive note, this truly shows how America has accepted and changed her mindset about the minority, especially people with color skin that are different from the whites!

to posts #3 & #4

Nazryn81, JayFlee0's post may seem a little off-hand, but he does have a point, in as much as I sympathise with you on your last-paragraph comment. I believe that the correct viewpoint would be this: racial issues cannot be ignored, but must be handled sensitively to prevent any negative impacts arising. Also compounding this are relationships of the people with their relatives across the border ... this too cannot be ignored.

This much is a fact: the current status-quo in SG has gotten us very much ahead of other countries that ignored such realities. Singaporeans of every race are very much more integrated than in our neighbours, say. I have good friends and colleagues who are Malays, Chinese, Indians, etc. And all this in-spite of our different cultures and beliefs and even some of our value systems.

And, over time, the status-quo will change and the situation expressed in your last paragraph will change for the better, too. Essentially, when our social and economic fabric becomes robust enough, and we come to have a greater stake in SG's success, then can such issues be brought out and dealt with openly. This may take another generation or two, and, even then, will still have to be dealt with sensatively.

We only need to look back a few decades ago, and remember the horrible race riots, and then realise anything that allows such things to propagate must never surface at all. But today, I can certainly wish you all a rich diversity of friendship experiences and well-being in SG, all regardless of race, language, and I dare say, religion. This I much prefer to the antagonism that focuses on differences in race/religion to divide and hurt.

I hope my comments have been helpful ... cheers!