I went this morning to the Tucson NW Democratic office to do my itty, bitty bit. I like walking, so I agreed to walk with a few others and hang flyers on doors. I joined up with two others: a man and a woman (all three of us were white). The three of us had never met before.
First, it was great to be there. There were loads of people, great stuff for breakfast, and I thought it was pretty well organized. After a few pep talks (meeting local candidates) we were given our assignments. We weren’t really asked to knock on doors, but asked to hang flyers on selected doors. These houses were identified as Democrats and Independents. This is not the time to remind Republicans to vote...
So, we drove to our assigned neighborhood, put on sun block (this is Arizona) and started going up to various doors. It took a while to figure out how to get the flyer to hang on the doorknob. We decided that the trickiness was designed to keep it from flying away – no desire to litter the environment.
Most of the time was spent walking around and looking for the correct addresses – and admiring the decorations still up from Hallowe’en – but I came back at one point to find my colleagues engaged in a conversation with a woman on the street.
She was partly disabled – not in a wheelchair, exactly, but on something that allows her to scoot around. And she was really, really conflicted. She doesn’t want Roe vs Wade overturned, but she had great problems voting for a black man. I pointed out that Obama was half-white, that he was raised by whites, that there was nothing to fear. It got through to her (although it’s a silly argument, it does reassure some) but I don’t think it was enough.
Unfortunately this is an attitude that I’m seeing too often. Some whites are simply afraid of Obama. I don’t know how to get through that fear. Maybe it’s going to take time.
She said she couldn’t vote for McCain/Palin, but she didn’t think she could vote for Obama, either. She was planning to leave that bit blank.
I wish I'd thought to quote that Obama speech about there not being a white America, or a black America, but rather a united America. Perhaps that would have made the difference.
Suggestions welcome...