I just don't know if I am handling the outright racism I deal with daily the correct way and am looking for some support with regards to whether I should change the way I deal with them. Especially since moving to Vermont is not an option right now.
I live in a decidedly Republican leaning township in a heavily Democratic county in a heavily Democratic state.
I was clear in my support for Obama. I had the lawn sign, the moveon.org button, the website printouts detailing the tax plans and the health care plans. I was prepared to be confronted on the issues and my outright support for Obama.
What I was not prepared for was the overwhelming confrontations that took on heavily racist tones veiled with that McCain blanket of topical information. (pals around with terrorists - supports anti americans/ will spread the wealth around - he is going to give money to blacks on welfare/ is a socialist - will take the white man's house and give it to a minority) Don't kid yourselves - that is exactly what those arguments were trying to convey.
Not only was I not prepared for the racist tones - I was not prepared for the amount of good people who dropped to that level. Friends and family whom I have known for thirty years, my parents, my siblings, my coworkers - the list goes on.
I was astounded at the amount of people who would approach me. They would see my button. They would then comment, "Oh, you are supporting him? Why?"
My standard response: "Everything I have heard from both candidates actually mandates that I support Obama. I am in a business that relies on infrastructure maintenance (highway and bridge construction). I am in line to be owner of the company some day and I have upwards of 20 employees, many of whom have families. With the exception of my father (the owner) we all make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year (not even close). We are a union shop. I am and have been against the Iraq war from the start and don't buy the BS that says we will be there forever. I believe strongly that the middle class is what drives the economy - not the fortune 500 class. Conversely, McCain has not mentioned the middle class once, has not mentioned infrastructure modernization once, his health care plan is absurd and potentially damaging to my families business, his pick of Palin is a slap in the face to America and I am pro-choice and am married to a feminist with a masters in American Lit who specializes in pre civil war race literature and possibly the foremost expert on the author Lillian Smith."
9 times out of 10 that statement was met with some kind of response to Obama being, black, Muslim, the messiah and my favorite - I think that Palin girl is more qualified than all of them.
It is amazing that I made it to election day.
And believe me - at this point in this diary, I am seriously downplaying the amount of racist BS I have heard over the last 8 weeks. Oh - and my neighbor across the street had a McCain Palin sign up for 6 of those weeks right next to his confederate flag. For those of you in Essex County NJ - yes I lived across the street from the moron featured in the Baristanet article.
It wasn't until the last week of the election that Obama signs outnumbered McCain signs on my block.
So on Election night, me and the Mrs. went out to trivia night at our local corporate pub (The Shannon Rose). We were playing team trivia. Our team consisted of my wife's co-workers (teachers from a local HS) and one of their husbands. All of whom supported McCain. So politics were not discussed. In between questions my wife would refresh the Kos to see the stream and when the Kos called it we kept our mouths shut and just hoped to be home in time for the victory speech. An hour later, when CNN called it, the proverbial shit hit the fan. The other husband that was there was visibly pissed off and tried engaging me in an argument over higher electricity prices due to coal plants having to pay for emissions then muttered how he doesn't ever want to hear about how oppressed "they" are followed by a statement regarding how Joe Biden will really be the one in charge. The table of drunken college students behind us started talking about how happy they were that racism is dead and how happy she is for all her black friends.
I can't tell you how badly we wanted that last round to be over.
We went home - lamented how poorly McCain's concession speech went and taped the victory speech so my kids could watch it since their mother is a McCain fan and probably wouldn't let them watch it at her house. We basked in the warm glow of the victory and then went to bed.
My facebook the next day was only mildly better than the previous nine weeks. A few of my friends who supported McCain were gracious and spoke about how it was time to get behind the new president. The overwhelming majority were not.
Messages sent to me *(each line is a separate message):
I am moving to another country.
I hope you are happy the messiah won.
I really thought that when the white people got out of work that McCain was going to overtake him.
This country is going to hell.
The world is going to end.
I hope you are happy that everything you work hard for is going to be given to people on welfare.
When I got to work it wasn't much better.
Here we are - roughly 4 days removed from the election and there are some things that just are not being said.
Racism is not dead - I believe it is worse than ever. I believe that we are a divided country.
Obama is going to be held to a higher standard than any President before him.
The whisper like racist rhetoric that was going around before the election is going to keep on going - getting quieter and quieter. Already I have heard multiple people talking about chain emails they have received that are supposed to be funny talking about going to Washington D.C. on the 20th for a "coon hunt" and so on. This is disgusting. This is appalling. And the people that I hear talking about these things are people I have known my whole life. I am so bitterly disappointed in my fellow man right now.
I believe we are a badly divided country.
I had a printout up in my office of the educational background of the four people vying for the Presidency. The differences were stark. If Obama was white do you think he would have won the popular vote by only 4 percent?
The Bradley Effect is dead?
I don't think so.
My wife's parents live in Indiana and from what I hear - it is no different there - in fact it might be worse because the racist rhetoric there is not as quiet.
I seriously think that if the Bradley Effect was dead - Obama would have won by at least 7 percent and by as much as 9 percent.
As of yesterday I have been flipping it back on people that are bringing up the election and my support of Obama. I come right out and ask them to sell me on why I should have voted for McCain and Palin without attacking Obama. I am met with blank stares most of the time.
I don't know if that is the correct route to making this situation better. I am hoping that some of these people just need the mirror turned on them to understand how ridiculously flawed their argument is and realize that Obama was the way to go.
Am I doing the right thing?