There are legitimate connections between blacks and Appalachian whites, that Barack Obama can tap into.
Recently, Obama has been getting a bevy of important Appalachian "Street cred" endorsements from, Legendary consultant, Mudcat Saunders, Dukes of Hazzards "Cooter-aka Ben Jones, and Bluegrass legend, Ralph Stanley; all support Obama.
Author, Ron Rash, is a Appalachian original himself. He is an author and a poet, who hails from the deep mountains in Appalachia, who has some salient advice for Barack Obama.
His current Book is titled Serena (no not the Tennis player). It's a story of two Bostoner's that came to the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina during the late 1920's, to start a timber fortune and a better life.
In the article, written by Kathleen Parker (yes the Palin critic), he gives some salient advice to Barack Obama, gives a brief history of Appalachia and it's people and also offers a moving stump speech (sort of) for Obama.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
First; Rash mentions the commonality between the people of Appalachia (Scot-Irish origin, roughly from the hard-scrabble mountains that run south from Western NY, Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, West Virginia, Western North Carolina, Western Virginia and Tennessee, before they spread to other areas)and African Americans, despite cultural differences some had with Obama during the primaries. He continues to say:
Obama has more in common with the mountain people than he may realize, says Rash, who is the Parris distinguished professor in Appalachian cultural studies at Western Carolina University in Cullowee, N.C.
African-Americans built this country and got nothing back, he says. So did Appalachians. What Obama may not know is that most mountain communities were pro-Union during the Civil War. These often-impoverished descendants of the Scots-Irish weren't slaveholders, after all. In a sense, blacks and Appalachians are natural allies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Wow! I think that makes a lot of sense, and similar to Jewish people in America; the Scot-Irish and black people in America have a similar history, that's often-not exploited properly against the ruling/business class.
Ok. Rash mentioned the Scot-Irish of Appalachia. But who are the Scot-Irish descendants; and where did they come from? United States Senator from Virginia, author and noted Scot-Irish descendant, Jim Webb explains in the Wall St Journal:
The Scots-Irish are derived from a mass migration from Northern Ireland in the 1700s, when the Calvinist "Ulster Scots" decided they'd had enough of fighting Anglican England's battles against Irish Catholics. One group settled initially in New Hampshire, spilling over into modern-day Vermont and Maine. The overwhelming majority -- 95% -- migrated to the Appalachians in a series of frontier communities that stretched from Pennsylvania to northern Alabama and Georgia. They eventually became the dominant culture of the South and much of the Midwest.
True American-style democracy had its origins in this culture. Its values emanated from the Scottish Kirk, which had thrown out the top-down hierarchy of the Catholic Church and replaced it with governing councils made up of ordinary citizens. This mix of fundamentalist religion and social populism grew from a people who for 16 centuries had been tested through constant rebellions against centralized authority. The Scots who headed into the feuds of 17th-century Ulster, and then into the backlands of the American frontier, hardened further into a radicalism that proclaimed that no man had a duty to obey a government if its edicts violated his moral conscience.
http://www.jameswebb.com/...
So this is where the people of Appalachia receive, what can be regarded as their insular, almost clannish, suspicious demeanor? Does this also explain their famous "conservative principles"? These proud people have always fought and continue to fight against the "systmem", after the manufacturing industries (particularly textiles) picked up and left over the years. Currently, their bitter and don't trust politicians. But things have been so bad, for so long, even they may be actually ready for a change, with the right person (after voting in 1988 for Dukkakis).
Governor, Mike Easely, of North Carolina, was on the Rachel Maddow Show recently and said he views change. He actually expects a "reverse Bradley Effect (where sheepish conservative whites won't tell friends and family they'll vote for Obama, but will in the privacy of the voting booth). While on the show, Governor Easely said amongst other things, "Appalachia may like John McCain, but they like a job better". He also said, "I saw a good ol boy in a pick up truck, with two rifles in the back, with Obama buttons on his truck". Lastly he told a amusing story of his straight razor wielding barber. "My barber, who's legally allowed to put a razor to your throat, as he asked questions, now how's that for a focus group, says many of his customers are voting for Obama".
Could that one of the reasons North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia are rising; good ole boys, reverse Bradley effect and straight razors? But times seem to be changing, but we really shouldn't be surprised, should we?
Rash also pointed out, that the Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights movement were long part of Appalachia. He added that "Rosa Parks, actually attended a work shop in Appalachia before she refused to sit at the back of that [famous] bus".
Now we all know the problems the media claimed Obama had with working class whites, which we know was particularly (and more accurately) folks in Appalachia during the Democratic Primary.
Currently, Obama is winning many of the Appalachian regions (of larger states) and seems to have a chance even in West Virginia, where he was blown out by 41 points, for a potential electoral landslide for Obama. It would also be great if Obama could visit the coal miners, that rejected the NRA, recently. Can Obama score in West Virginia and other parts of Appalachia.
Rash, Gives Obama some great stump speech material to seriously push the cause, I think. He states:
Thus, when Obama visits the region, Rash recommends that he say the following: "I know that for well over a century, the only time people come to Appalachia is when they want something. They want your coal, your timber and they want your vote. They take what they want and they leave and they don't come back until they want some more. I'm not going to do that.
"I'll make a vow to you today that a year from now, I'll be back. And we'll discuss what I've done and whether you feel like I've honored what I've said here today. I'll come back this time of year for as long as I am president."
Sounds good? Rash continues:
Obama should also say that though he is different in many ways, he is much the same. He didn't grow up with wealth, and had to work hard, as they do. On the war -- a prickly point in these parts -- Obama should recognize that Appalachia has contributed more than its fair share to America's wars.
He should say: "We may disagree about this war, but one reason I disagree is because this region more than any other has sent soldiers into battle for this country. And part of honoring that is not sending them into a war that has not been well thought-out."
Wow! What great straight advice. Jim Webb agrees. Here's his punctuation in the Wall St Journal again:
"The greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African-Americans to the same table."
Now how prophetic is that (Yes! He really said that)?
Wow. I think the words of Webb, on the situational existence, and the words of Rash on how to talk to the locals, can greatly benefit Obama and his campaign. He's doing a great job now campaigning, but this type of home spun advice can only help.