The President

Barack Obama defeated Senator John McCain in November 2008 to become the 44^th president of the United States.  He was inaugurated on January 20, 2009.  He became the first African American president of the United States.  His election was unprecedented.  Besides being the first African American president, during campaigning he took advantage of the Internet and the power of text messaging to appeal to young voters.  Although the civil war has long ended we as a society and a country are still feeling the beliefs that started it.  During the election President Obama received the most votes from people who’s household income was at or under 50k.  President Obama received 94% of all African American Votes, as well as a majority of Latinos and Asians.  During the election McCain received 55% of the white vote. Hundreds of years after the civil war, we are still facing some of the same problems and beliefs.  It seemed as if we were more divided than ever on the issue of race as opposed to beliefs on who would be a better presdient.  

The message is that anyone regardless of his or her color can be elected to the office of President of the United States.  It shows young African American students that they in fact become anything they want to be. How the student is treated in the classroom can be affected by the home life of the other students.  Some students might have racist parents who say negative things about having an African American president when their child is present.  That child then comes to school with the biased background that they have grown up with.  Now the African American student might be faced with the belief of some people that African Americans shouldn’t be elected as President.

As a teacher I think it is incredibly important to be aware of the different beliefs of children.  A classroom needs to be a safe environment for all students, meaning regardless of their own personal, political beliefs.  As a teacher I need to be careful to watch for when students say racial or biased comments and stop them from continuing.  The belief that any person of any color can be elected as President is one of the best messages as a teacher I can give to my students.  I can tell my African American students that they can be anything they want to be, including the President of the United States.

Information about the elections gathered from  Famous Firsts by African Americans (Inventors, Government, Law, Literature, Film) /title> http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmfirsts.html#ixzz12AnY47iw
Image of President Obama from jewsonfirst.org