I am writing a research paper for this class that explores the correlation of minority elected officials and the erasure of discrimination. I found that blacks tend to vote within their group if there is a black candidate, (as do women, to a much lesser extent) and that this can occur even when there is extreme ideological differences. It brought up a point which I am very interested in, but didn't have the time to explore this semester. surely, there is a groupthink mentality that is happening when blacks vote for blacks. Within our class, that has historically been a way we describe a fallacy. When it comes to elected officials, it seems blacks vote for blacks because they share a common interest, as do women, asians, and white men. Is this still groupthink? And is this an instance where it is a good thing? I read an interesting article today that highlighted blacks support of Obama even after he has come out as supportive of gay marriage, when homosexuality has always been generally "frowned upon" by a large majority of the black community. As the article says, "Part of the tension between gays and blacks comes from comparisons of their struggles. Some cast gay marriage as the last frontier of equal rights for all; others counter that minority status comes more from how you look than what you do." Blacks are feuding with gays now as to who's more repressed? Should have included LGBT attitudes in my survey. Anyway, here's the article. Interesting read.
http://news.yahoo.com/many-blacks-shrug-off-obamas-view-gays-221003333.html
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