At a Clinton campaign rally Sunday night in Eleanor, only 30 miles down the road from Charleston (motto posted on the main drag: "The Cleanest Town in West Virginia"), the Secret Service held on to pocketknives for voters so they could give them back once the candidate left -- not exactly the norm at Obama's rallies anywhere. Even for Clinton fans this late in the game, the crowd was fairly hostile to Obama. R.K. and Peggy Horton, both 71, said they'd never voted for a Republican for president in their lives. But if Obama wins, they will, and they think a lot of their neighbors will, too.
Obama rubs the Hortons the wrong way because they think he's arrogant. It's the same thing you hear from voters in a lot of the parts of the country where Obama's infamous remarks about bitterness would probably also apply. But that's not his only problem in rural West Virginia. "They won't go for a black man, that's just it," R.K. Horton, a retired heating and air conditioning business owner, said of his neighbors. "I don't think it's being racist necessarily, they just don't like black people that well." For that matter, it's not just his neighbors. "The arrogance and all that bothers me more than black, but black is a close second," he said. "Our generation was back when blacks were the back of the bus, and it's hard to change that outlook. I just feel like I couldn't vote for him."
Has your head exploded yet?
What the fuck is wrong with these people? First of all, if you say you just don't like black people all that well, you are a racist. If you don't like ONE black person, that's dislike of an individual. Not liking "black people" means you are a racist. So admit it and then we can deal with it accordingly.
R.K. Horton is smart enough, and able enough to detach from his gut response to recognize that his "not liking black people" may stem from growing up when black people were the back of the bus -- but he's not able to transcend that and recognize that just because something comes from your gut or your upbringing doesn't make it accurate.
This is the minefield that John Edwards faced with the gay community when he acknowledged his "discomfort" -- a discomfort stemming from his background. The difference is that John Edwards recognized that "discomfort" need not result in "dislike", acknowledged that he was struggling with it, and admitted it wasn't something of which he was proud -- unlike R.K. Horton, who just shrugs his shoulders and figures he's entitled to be a racist because he grew up that way.
Meanwhile, the "uppity Negro" (sic) -- oh, excuse me -- the ARROGANT black guy -- had the temerity to recognize the dynamic of a bunch of people voting against their own interest because they can't seem to get past their own prejudices. He had the audacity to pull the cover off of this cancer with which the American white poor live all the time and try to transcend it. He recognized it for what it is -- bitterness -- and is chastised to this day for it.
Well, you know what, Mr. Horton? You go right on listening to the Republican dog whistles. You go right on voting for people who send your job overseas and who want to throw your Social Security into the giant sucking maw of the stock market and want to eliminate the Medicare you're going to rely on when you're old. You go on voting for these people because you grew up with blacks at the back of the bus.
But when you find yourself without so much as a pot to piss in, don't come crying to me. And don't you DARE blame those black people you still think belong at the back of the bus.
UPDATE: So much for race doesn't matter anymore. Ugly Americans indeed.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire