My entire family, many of them long time Republicans, have left the Republican party and have all decided upon Obama for the general election coming up. Except...
Except for my grandparents. They are both long time Democrats. (To be honest the kind of dogmatic knee jerk Democrats of old which I have never really gotten along with) They both detest Bush and Republicans in general more than I have ever thought healthy. It has always seemed a tribal thing with them and not a dislike based on policies. But I have just learned that they would rather vote for McCain because they "wouldn't vote for that nigger".
I can't begin to describe how heartbroken I am by this news. My initial response was to call them up and lay into them about how ashamed I am of them. I want to tell them in no uncertain terms that I consider this attitude to be deplorable and that I will not tolerate them ever expressing this around my daughter else I will make a huge scene and embarrass the hell out of their lily livered selves. I have laways tried to believe I was raised better than this and that my parents who raised me were raised better than this but I'm wrong.
So I decided that confronting them on their prejudice is probably a tactic that will cause lots of bad blood. Cause huge stresses for my parents, and probably not result in anything good. Namely I want John McCain not to get their vote and I want Obama to get their vote. So what to do?
I have never written a letter to anyone in my family to discuss politics. But I have decided that rather than confront them over their prejudice I am going to write a positive letter to them requesting that they support Obama. I am not going to let them know that I am aware of this newly revealed prejudice (up until now I knew they weren't the most enlightened folk but I have never know they actually harbor ill will towards others like this). I figure maybe I can just make a case for Obama and slowly turn them around on this.
But, I figure I need some help. I suspect that some here at Dailykos have gone through this kind of thing with elderly relatives. Maybe someone has some advice they would be willing to share. If you do please post it in the comments. When I have written the letter and sent it off I'll post it here in the hopes it helps others.
TIA
UPDATE Per requests I have removed the word nigger from the title. Considering it is a quote, attracts attention to the issue, and conveys I think the urgency of my post I think the inclusion of the word is spot on. However I am not interested in making this diary about the use of the word. My point is to try and get experiences and help from other posters and not read through 25 messages bemoaning my quoting my grandmother. So it's been changed.