I don’t mean for this to be a negative diary. Really I don’t. But I’m increasingly worried about the effect that race is playing in this election. Most of my evidence is anecdotal. Below are some examples of what I’ve come across just this week:
• A friend of mine, a senior partner in a large law firm, was at a local service station and the owner tried to give him a McCain bumper sticker. My friend said politely, "No thanks, I’m for the other side." The owner, a female, said, "You’re not gonna vote for that nigger are you?"
• A friend of a friend received a forwarded e-mail today with a photoshopped picture of Sarah Palin getting her shoes polished by Barack Obama, who is down on his knees in front of her. The caption reads, "Maybe they have finally found a job for Obama that he is qualified for!"
• An old acquaintance of mine called me today and I asked him who he was going to vote for, and he said "I’d never vote for a black man, especially a Muslim." We then had a testy exchange in which I told him Obama certainly isn’t a Muslim, and that the acquaintance is a racist.
You may be thinking, "Well, you DO live in Alabama, what do you expect?" But I live in Huntsville, a high tech city with several colleges and thousands of engineers. The lion’s share of the International Space Station was designed and built here. We are home to Space Camp and Marshall Space Flight Center. The n-word isn’t said here in polite company, and I expect would provoke horrified gasps if said in all but the most redneck of settings. I’ve been trying to convince myself that pervasive racism is the last bastion of a few ignorant rednecks, but I’m afraid I’ve been kidding myself.
I've always known Barack never had a chance in Alabama, but a recent poll of Alabama voters has only 25% planning to vote for him. (53% plan to vote for McCain, and 23% are undecided, planned to vote for another candidate, or declined to answer.) Twenty-five percent. There’s no doubt in my mind that many of the 23% are democrats who can’t bring themselves to vote for a black man. What’s wrong with these people?
I'm not a believer in God. I don't think a heavenly father is watching over us and answering our prayers. But many of you do believe. If you do, please pray for our nation. Pray for hope to win the day on November 4th. Pray that the racists will see the error of their ways and start judging people by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin. Ask the Lord to heal the hating hearts of the bigots in this country.
Go to this people and say,
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.
Acts 28: 26-27.
If only.