Tonight's debate in Nashville scares the shit out of me. I do not believe there are any undecided voters in this Town-Hall, and you have, Tom Brokaw, a shill for the Mccain Camp moderating the debate. So, I think this debate will be just like the ABC debate earlier this year in the Democratic Primary. I know Belmont University is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state. I just think this is a Hit job.
I have lived in Tennessee all my short life,(27 years) and in 2004 was the first time I voted. I still remember going into the both and pulling the lever for Kerry. As a black man, I was so proud of myself that day, but you know what happened in the end, Bush stole another election. In 2006, I voted for Harold Ford Jr. and I even got about 10 other people to go and vote him also. The first time I heard the name Barack Obama was when he came to Nashville and Campaigned for Ford.
He loss by 40,000 votes, and even if I don't like Ford now, He still is better than any Republican.
The History of Tennessee and African Americans has a very bad history. Obama is not in any trouble, I am just laying out the history of my state. We can start with the creation of the Klu Klux Klan in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. I live about 45 miles away from Pulaski and parts of the city remain segregated. I live in a City that is named after racist, Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self made and innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a figure in the postwar establishment of the first Ku Klux Klan organization opposing the military occupation and rule in the South.
When Democrats took control of Tennessee in 1888, they passed laws making voter registration more complicated and ended the most competitive political state in the South. Voting by blacks in rural areas and small towns dropped, as did voting by poor whites. In fact there were only two or three African Americans in the Tennessee legislature during Reconstruction. Others served as state and city officers. Even with increased participation on the Nashville City Council, African Americans held only one-third of the seats. The white, elite-dominated legislature thus had the power to add more Jim Crow laws and establish state segregation with provisions that would last until the mid-20th century. Disfranchising provisions worked against poor whites as well as blacks for decades. Tennesseebecame a white-dominated state, with the Democratic Party in power in the Middle and Western sections; the Eastern section retained Republican support based on its Unionist leanings before and during the war. Let's move to the 1960's.
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. I was not alive during this time, but this was also a bad mark against Tennessee. He was a great American leader and I regret that he was killed in my state. His death caused riots in 60 cities, across America.
We have some famous black Americans from or who has lived in Tennessee like:
Alex Haley
Aretha Franklin
B.B.King
Isaac Hayes
Oprah Winfrey
Reggie White
Samuel L. Jackson
Usher
Wilma Rudolph
And many, many more.
With all this bad history, in my state and as a black man, it's hard to believe this will be any different tonight. I know Obama will hold his ground tonight, but I am just suspicious about the people that will be asking the questions.
Update:
I found this article about the debate tonight. 64-Year-Old Chooses 2008 To Cast His First Ever Vote
Fileccia, 64, registered to vote for the first time in hopes of casting his vote in the 2008 election. Fileccia was so excited about voting he even wrote a song about it.
Fileccia said he registered a Democrat and he would be voting for Barack Obama.
Fileccia joined other Obama supporters at Belmont Tuesday morning, while McCain supporters rallied around John Rich of the country music group Big and Rich for his "Raisin McCain" song.