THANK YOU for helping me understand this article and for CLARIFYING certain points about the “UNDER “40-ish” as compared to myself. I have 2 “under “40-ish” children and your perspecive is clarifying for me – even though I raised them to be 2 of those “black people in power!” :>)

AGAIN, I THANK YOU!! MUCH JJP LUV!! :>) :>)

President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama! YES HE DID! TRUST!!! I was waiting for this WIN to post the appropriate “EXCLAMATION POINT AFTER TRUST!!!!! :>)

THANK YOU for helping me understand this article and for CLARIFYING certain points about the “UNDER “40-ish” as compared to myself. I have 2 “under “40-ish” children and your perspecive is clarifying for me – even though I raised them to be 2 of those “black people in power!” :>)

AGAIN, I THANK YOU!! MUCH JJP LUV!! :>) :>)

President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama! YES HE DID! TRUST!!! I was waiting for this WIN to post the appropriate “EXCLAMATION POINT AFTER TRUST!!!!! :>)

The under 40 crowd is used to seeing Will Smith and Denzel and the Cosby Show and Oprah and the black president on 24 whether they watched it or not.

The over 40 crowd isn't used to that.

I'm not saying the under 40 white crowd isn't racist because A LOT of them were brought up under Reagan and the Willie Horton and Welfare Queens and squabbles over political correctness and affirmative action. I think kids are going to follow the political inclinations of their parents unless some other exposure changes their minds, so if their parents thought “black people = bad” they will too.

BUT, they are used to seeing black people in positions of power and they know the sky isn't going to cave in.

I don't think it's any accident that the majority of the white people foaming at the mouth and wringing their hands over “riots” and “black peopel getting attitudes” are over 40.

I don't think it's any accident that the majority of white people disturbed by Michelle's “whitey” tape were over 40. Anyone under 40 knows black people are not running around saying “whitey.”

“Whitey” is a term from a bad George Jefferson episode or a blaxploitation film. The people most likely to be watching George Jefferson or a character like that spout off “whitey” or “honkey” would be over 40, since people in their 30s were born in the 70s and were probably too young to be watching them religiously.

I will base it on age because people under 40 years old have had more opportunity to mix with people from other cultures than people over 40. If you know that not all black people are foaming at the mouth itching to get whitey just because they get a certain position. That's why the Willie Horton style attacks of the 80s are backfiring in the 08 because more and more people have had more exposure to different peoples and they know that Obama isn't some black boogeyman out to get them.

It's also no accident that the majority of the people IMO who are scared shitless by Obama and disturbed by Michelle, Farrakhan and Rev. Wright are white people who live, work, learn and play among themselves and ONLY themselves.

Your mileage may vary, and I understand. But I believe that a great deal of white people AREN'T scared shitless by the prospect of a black president, and that's because they have exposed to images of “non-threatening” black people, and they have worked with “non threatening” black people. That doesn't mean they will VOTE for Obama or would want their sons to marry Obama's daughters, but they're not going to stock up Y2K style in their houses, either.

I will not say that it is so clear cut because so many of them are not used to seeing or believeing that black people are in high positions or can get a high position. Everytime they see it, they make sense of it the way their parents do….that those blacks are an exception! They tell me this all the time, “I cannot believe that your parents live in such a nice house”…”you are not like other black people”…”you are more white than black….you probably have nothing in common with your black friends” or the classic joke that a friends boyfriend made about my dad when he asked me what my father did for a living and I told him that he was a wall street broker. The guy said, “Oh…I had to think for a second to see if you said that your father was broker. Most black men are broke not brokers are you sure your not mixed up?” It goes on from there. Forget the stuff they say about obama in relation to other black people.

They like Obama in the same way they would like a black celebrity. They do not equate him with the collective black community. I realized this and it has always shocked me.

Our nation still has a large racial divide and many are not exposed to blacks to actually get to know them and realize that we are a diverse community. Many in this category just do not want to. They are deeply influenced by the negative perceptions and racist ideologies that are presented in society. It is much easier for them to base their assessment about anyone non-white on stereotypes. We have a way to go!

However I am confident. But as I said, do not base it solely on age when it comes to this issue.

P.S. I find that many whites did not watch a Different World….they found it too afrocentric. I loved it!

I don't think that the Cosby Effect is the only factor at work here. Let's not forget the Freeman Effect. The first time I saw a valid portrayal of a Black President was in the movie “Deep Impact” when Morgan Freeman lead the country during a potential extinction level event, in that calm measured way of his. That movie and the first two seasons of 24 planted the seeds in my mind (and heart) that black president was not a laughable notion.

Now that I think about it, there are a lot of positive portrayals of AA in popular culture (though there can indeed be a lot more), and those representations have shaped how the younger generations of America view black people just as much as the many (many) negative portrayals of AA's!

My disagreement with you is that you claim that whites are uncomfortable with hip-hop and what I was saying is that it is not racial but generational. People over a certain age often have disdain for it while people under a certain age either have no problem with it or could care less (it varys even beyond that). I know of predominantely black schools and black parents who want to ban it and don't allow their children to listen to it….its basicially the same thing. I am a fan of certain types of hip hop and I am highly selective about the artists I support. I despise the vast majority of mainstream garbege that I hear.

We are a diverse people with varying life stories. The Cosby Show and A Different World are reflective of my life story than the life stories that are often promoted by the hip-hop industry.

“The Cosby Show” is still on the air in syndication and on TVLand. Even if the 18-24 years old never saw it, the 30-40 year olds DID. I see a lot of white Obama supporters who are in their 30s-40s. I think seeing middle class black people on their TV screens does make a difference.

They've seen shows like “24″ where there's a black president and he wasn't trying to “get whitey.” They've seen Denzel and Halle get Oscars and not try to “get whitey” and they've seen Oprah amass a billion dollars and she's not trying to get whitey.

They grew up watching “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” living in a faux White House looking house and they were not trying to get whitey.

And most importantly, people born in the late 60s to the present have grown up in a multicultural world, going to school with people from other backgrounds, being exposed to other cultures. Amy and Brad are sitting next to Raheem and Keyshia and Raheem and Keyshia are not trying to get whitey. We go to work with people from different backgrounds. So I propose that for people under 40, there's a comfort level with “others” that people above 40 just don't have.

I think “get whitey” is in the back of many white people's minds (above 40 and/or isolated from black people) who are “uncomfortable” with black people obtaining any type of power because they are truly afraid that Barack and Michelle will sound the alarm for black people to “get whitey.” That's why Geraldine Ferraro came out in that newspaper and said when Barack says “Our time is now,” she hears “our [white people] time is UP.”

The people I've noticed most concerned “the blacks” will riot are over 40. I was listening to local talk radio and the callers were calling in saying “the blacks” will riot whether Obama wins or not. Personally, I think if any Obama people riot due to his loss it will be young white people rioting, and if you really want to know the truth IMO the McCain people are more likely to riot and “get crunk” in the event of his loss. Why the hell would black people RIOT if Obama WINS?

Did black people riot after the Iowa caucus? After he accepted the Democratic nomination? No! So why would black people “riot” and burn down shit just because Obama wins?

But I betcha Joe the Plumber and his acolytes will riot if Obama wins.

Anywhoo, I think younger (under 40) white people have had more exposure to black people in high level positions due to shows like Cosby and Oprah and 24, due to watching Denzel, and due to being exposed to black people in their daily lives who weren't “out to get them” so their comfort level with Obama is going to be greater than a Harriet Christian type of white person. JMO.

People have been arguing this point since the 80s. They called it the emergence of a new black aesthetic with the rise of black athletes, independent film makers, actors/actresses, various sub-cultures, the rise and growth of the black middle class.

I agree and appreciate the argument presented in this article! I have been arguing for a while now about Obama and the black middle class both in society and in popular culture.

However, to say that the people who cannot understand the emergence of Obama is due to their 50s mentality of who black people are is silly. They do not have to go back to the 50s. There have been a plethora of negative black images in every single decade that follow including our current decade.

All in all good article, great find!

I will have to dispute this line because it is just not true. I agree with the fact that it emerged in the 1980s but it has not continues to today by any stretch of the the imagination.