Two Party System Turns into a Black vs. White Battle

 During the recent election social media became an immeasurable source of public opinion and discussion. There were countless parody accounts for President Barack Obama as well as Governor Romeny, in addition to thousands of commentaries on the debates, discussions, rallies, websites, news events, and everything political. Before November 6th even grew near people were using Facebook and Twitter (just to name a few) to state their opinions about the candidates... and to make some other, more controversial statements, as well. 

Huffington Post Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lucette-jefferson/election-day-racism-twitter_b_2093924.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices


 

For some reason many Romney supporters thought that the idea of this fictional swell of Republican voters after the work day ended was a hilarious/accurate/clever way to defend against the predictions of Obama's impending victory. "Well of course Obama is in the lead...all of his supporters have nothing to do but sit around all day....meanwhile voters for Romney are still at work." As tensions rose people began to claim more and more that all of Obama's supporters were black, jobless, and lazy. The reality of the situation is that Obama won by a large majority, and had large numbers of supporters from every race, gender, and minority group. 

 
 
I can speak personally and say that as a white girl from Texas, I received a lot of flack for voting for Obama. After I posted a picture with a friend celebrating our first time voting experience, I received dozens of inquiries: "For the love of god please tell me that you didn't vote for Obama..." "Are you for real?". After Obama's victory my Facebook newsfeed was flooded with people whining about how they were going to move to Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico- anywhere but the US (though apparently socialized medecine isn't the problem since many of those countries are supporters of it...). I know that politics is a sore subject for a lot of people, and that voting democratic in a conservative state is considered rebellious, but the hate and scrutiny that I saw was really mindblowing. I felt as though I was back in the racist, Jim Crow South... no opinion except for the white opinion was acceptable. Mitt was the candidate I should choose because he has a beautiful blonde family and conservative values- Obama was the enemy because he represents poor, black americans. 

http://www.politicususa.com/romney-tells-donors-obama-supporters-feel-entitled-food.html

Despite the negativity and racism that I experienced, voting was an incredible experience. Watching the election results pour in was so thriling, and realizing that my vote had just helped to choose our nations next leader was exciting. All in all, election day was a testament to democracy and in the end, we can all stand united in the idea that America is still the best country on earth.