No longer a “white” house

Published November 13, 2008

If you’ve seen the email forward of the guy on the bike, riding through traffic, on the back of his t shirt is the slogan "It’s called a white house for a reason" then you know some of the fallout from the election results.

People are justifiably upset by this slogan and it’s racist underpinnings.

I think the statement needs more credit. The slogan is true because the mentality behind it has held true. It has been a white house for 43 presidencies. And people have been used to thinking of it as a white man’s job.

Guess what?

No longer!

Mohana Rajakumar

Mohana has a PhD from the University of Florida with a focus on gender and postcolonial theory. She is the creator and co-editor of five books in the Qatar Narratives series, as well as the Qatari Voices anthology which features essays by Qataris on modern life in Doha (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2010). Mohana has published several ebooks and academic titles. Check out her Amazon.com author page

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2 Responses to No longer a “white” house

Anonymous says:

November 14, 2008 at 1:06 pm

Election day was one of the happiest days of my life. One of the op-ed writers in my local paper had a column this morning about how, yes, Obama’s election is a huge step forward for Black Americans, but an even bigger step forward for White Americans.

xx,
Beverly
http://www.wbnm.typepad.com
Mohanalakshmi says:

November 20, 2008 at 3:11 pm

I generally agree – but also feel that it indicates how left out white people began to feel towards the end of the election and now have to elbow their way back to the table.

How magnanamous of them to elect a bi-racial son of slaves who would have been opening their doors scant decades ago is the extreme verison of this logic.

Let’s all hope too much hasn’t been placed on his shoulders….