To continue with my photographic journal (I blame Jessica for that) here's a pic inside my workplace...
Thursday, March 6
American dream?
H and I were watching the news yesterday and a piece about elections in the US caught our attention. It was about Obama, and a team of reporters had actually interviewed Obama's mother in Kenya. The woman was dressed in traditional African clothing and spoke about proudly about his son. H said "This truly is the American dream...!" We have elections in Spain soon aswell (next sunday) and I think we still need to learn a lot about the US, even though it's not a perfect country either. It would be unthinkable in Spain to have someone running for president with relatives say in Morocco or any other African country. Our society is still quite prejudiced, and not just about people from other countries, in fact nobody could picture a Catalan running for president of Spain, and that would have nothing to do with race or ethnicity. Likewise, there was some controversy when Catalans elected president for our comunity because the winner is not a perfect Catalan. Mr Montilla was not born here, he has Andalusian descent and a Spanish last name. He won though. I wonder if I'll ever see a Catalan as president of the country. We really do have a long way to go...
To continue with my photographic journal (I blame Jessica for that) here's a pic inside my workplace...
To continue with my photographic journal (I blame Jessica for that) here's a pic inside my workplace...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
So far this is my FAVORITE photo! I just love the depth and lighting contrasts throughout the hallway, technically this is a great photo, Nuri. I can almost hear you say, that you just took the picture without thinking about that stuff but, without knowing, you were.......I think you've got the eye but have never realized it!!!
I'm so excited about your new journey!!
Love the photo!
In my opinion Spain has a lot of healing to do. What Franco did to the country has left its last impression on the national identity (and the identities of groups like the Basque, Valencians, Catalan, etc.).
As for the US, we have many generations of prejudice towards immigrants under the proverbial belt. A country like Spain hasn't known for long what it's like to become a nation of immigrants, so the racism that you see directed towards the N. Africans is natural and will likely dissipate over the next few generations (ojala que si).
Obama, grandson of Africans and an African-American, might become the first black president in the history of the United States, though keeping things in perspective: slavery was abolished over 100 years ago. As they say: baby steps. Baby steps for both nations.
That is a great shot, Nuri. The subject is very good, too.
I have a more difficult time accepting that a Catalan can't be elected president of Spain than I do that Obama or Clinton won't be elected president of the US. In the US it would be somewhat like saying that someone from Kansas or North Carolina couldn't be elected. That kind of bias doesn't exist in the US.
I don't know if the country as a whole is ready for either a woman or a black as president, but I think the more relevant factor in this election is the particular woman and the particular black that are candidates.
Personally, I would have voted for one black candidate and one woman candidate in the past, had they been nominated, but I won't vote for either Clinton or Obama.
Thank you! I think it's easy to get a nice photograph from a nice place...
Cairogal, I think you're right...
James, something tells me you'd prefer Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell... ;-)
"Something" tells you correctly, although those weren't the two I was talking about.
Your workplace looks so nice. I'd post a picture of my workplace but I think my readers would be horrified.
I think America is ready for a woman or a black President, or a black woman President, but I'm with James -not this woman or this black man. Michelle Obama says that America is a mean country. I don't want to be scolded for the next four years about how mean I am, from a woman pulling down over $300,000 a year.
Post a Comment