City Newspaper Archives - 8/2007

POLITICS: Why mention race in the Obama fundraiser article?

Published on Aug 14, 2007
In the article about Barack Obama's fundraiser at Nathaniel's Pub (August 1), Tim Macaluso writes: "About 40 people, most of whom were white and over 40, attended this event, which raised about $600."

I'd like to ask Mr. Macaluso why race plays such an important part in this article. Why is it so important to mention that the people who gave in Obama's fundraiser were white? Can't he just mention that the people were over 40?

Once America gets over mentioning race in anything of importance will we move on, and maybe black and white issues can just be looked at as people issues. Let's get over mentioning race in the paper, and maybe we can get over comparing black and white issues time and time again.

In such a liberal alternative newsweekly, I'm surprised City let this slide. Then again, maybe I'm not.

Thomas Dolan, Legran Road, Irondequoit

The editor's response: There are times when race is relevant to a news item. We think this is one of them. In the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, analysts have been watching the difference in African Americans' support for the Barack Obama and for Hillary Clinton. It's an issue. Given that fact, it's hard to attend a local Obama event and not note whether a sizeable number of African Americans showed up.

You feel it's acceptable that we note the age grouping at the Obama fundraiser. We agree that that's relevant; are young people engaged in this campaign? We also think the race of the attendees is relevant.