An NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist University poll released May 1 (www.nbcnews.com/...) has Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton in Indiana 48% to 41%, but I’m not surprised. Of the five states I’ve lived in—including Texas and Georgia—I felt like Indiana was the most racist.
This goes several years back to when I was an active duty U.S. Air Force lieutenant based at Ft. Ben Harrison, just outside of Indianapolis. One weekend I jumped in my Buick Skylark and drove up I-69 to Ft. Wayne to visit a friend on a day trip.
We hung out for most of the day, then said our good-byes and I jumped back in my car heading back to Indy while it was still daylight.
After a while of driving on I-69, I realized I needed gas and pulled off at a station somewhere near Anderson, Indiana. Right about the same time I was about done getting gas I heard a what sounded like somebody wildly and repeatedly blowing their vehicle’s horn in the distance. At first glace, I saw that it was a pickup truck that looked like it had 500 people piled onto it yelling at the top of their lungs. Then I realized they were directing all this at me. I think I realized it for sure when it became apparent that “F*****g n****r!” was what they were screaming loudest.
I threw the gas dispenser back on the pump, jumped in my car, cranked it and floored it heading for the nearby interstate. Didn’t realize a Skylark could move that fast. They chased me for what was probably about a quarter mile until I was able to get onto the ramp back onto I-69...fortunately, they stopped chasing me after I got on the access road, but kept yelling.
I guess they just wanted me out of their town. Perhaps it was just a bunch of ignorant, unarmed kids messing around, then again, Indiana is said to be the hub of where the Ku Klux Klan was revitalized in the 20th Century...you just never know. I’m just glad I was able to get away.
There were assorted other racial incidents that happened the two years I was based in Indiana. For example, when I took a girlfriend to an ice cream shop and the attendant asked, “What flavor do y’all want, chocolate?” I was about ready to fight the fool, but my girlfriend pushed me out of the place while a shouting match between me and that racist prick ensued. I could also see him reaching under the register, which made me think he had a gun. So again, retreating was the wise strategy.
So, all these years later, when I see that Trump is leading Hillary in Indiana and will likely win the GOP Presidential Primary there I’m anything but surprised. Kind of reinforces the Indiana I came to know and not love...and why I didn’t care much for my time in Indiana. Once you get out of the urban areas, it’s generally a ginormous cornfield...it’s Hickville—very conservative, intolerant and yes...hateful. In other words, the perfect place for a bigot like Trump and a group like the KKK to thrive, even in 2016.