This submission is dedicated to the memory of Studs Terkel, an American legend who died yesterday.
This afternoon I spent four hours on the corner of Carr Road and 108th SE in Renton, Washington carrying my VETERANS FOR OBAMA sign. The adventures I encountered this day were unlike any other in my previous five outings.
It was rainy and very cold and the pavement was slick. The wind was whipping the sign all around and it took all I could just to make it visible for passers-by. I think I looked pretty ridiculous from the comfort of the cars going by.
An hour into my vigil I heard a voice from behind me saying, "Well, you're just a n@gger lover aren't you?" I stupidly replied, "Let's get together and talk Wednesday morning." His reply: "I got your Wednesday morning, faggot right here. And I'm about to deliver it." Now this guy was about forty years, muscular build, and he wasn't angry. He was completely out of his mind furious, apoplectic in his demeanor. Sputtering and spitting the "N word" four or five more times he stomped on off down the cross-walk toward the grocery store.
Many cars passed by with horns blaring and people screaming, "Obama." But there were a number of other calls, such as, "You're a Communist and we're gonna hang the N@gger this week." I wasn't able to formulate a reply that seemed appropriate, although I felt angry and not a little ill.
For a moment I thought back to the early 1960s Freedom Marches in the Deep South, and said to myself, "this is just a tiny piece of what those guys must have had to face in Selma and Birmingham and the other sites of the civil rights marches."
It also occurred to me that my biases towards the Republican Party, and their intentional failure to embrace people of color except to place a few in strategic places during convention and campaign speeches, was not a bias. It was fact.
Just as Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1965, he turned around and said to an aide, "We [Democratic Party] have just lost the South for a generation."
This was proven to be true, the one term election of Jimmie Carter an aberration. Ronald Reagan's coalition was made up of disaffected blue collar Southerners. Any glance at the electoral maps of 1980, 1984, and even 1988 clearly show that Reagan's strength came from the South, more specifically, the lower class WHITE voting South.
It does not take a PHD in sociology to see that the Republican Party is suffering still from the affects of the Reagan coalition, that is, as America continues to diversify and whites continue to lose their political grip on power, what I witnessed personally today will be at least some of the product of the frustration of a class of people who are both fearful and angry, or angry and fearful, about no longer being the powerful voting block they have been for, as LBJ predicted, an entire generation and more.
Back to today.
A police car stopped at the light and I asked the cop to roll down his window and I explained I had been directly threatened with violence, for no other reason than my carrying a political sign on a sidewalk. The policeman grew somber and said, "if he comes back, call 911 immediately. I cruise back here in ten minutes to see how you are doing." Then he gave me a thumbs up, which I interpreted to be supportive of Obama, and I continued my walking.
A black woman walked up to me from behind and said, "See here, lemme get a look at that sign. Oh, good. For a minute I thought I was gonna have to snatch that ol' thing from your hands."
She and I spoke for a good ten minutes. She asked, "what caused you to do this?" I answered, "George Bush. And the hope that we can finally knock him outta there with Barack." She went on to ask, "What do you think is most important about Barack's election?" I answered, "First of all, the entire world will look at America a whole lot different on Wednesday morning, seeing that we are capable of looking past a candidate's color and into his skills, capabilities, and potential. America's image around the globe will be on the upswing by the end of the week. Now, I think also that Barack has to deal with health care and our infrastructure. And getting us out of Iraq as soon as possible and stopping the monthly drain of dollars going into that war." She nodded her agreement. I said one last thing, "But I think Barack has to level with us as soon as he is president." "What you mean?" She asked. "I think he can't deliver on everything he has promised. We're broke. He has to look America in the eye and say so, and tell us the free lunches are over. SACRIFICE is necessary. He needs to remind us that party time is over. There is lots of work to be done." She said, "Amen," and walked off down the sidewalk.
My friend the hostile bigot suddenly appeared and he opened his mouth to taunt me, but I cut him off. "Hey, Jack, want to do me a favor?" "What's that you faggot Commmie?" I said, "Stand right there for two minutes. See, I have this friend who's a Renton cop. I just talked to him and he wants to meet you. So just hold on and let me call him." So I reach into my pocket and pretend to dial 911. He runs off as I pretend dial. I start calling after him, "Hey, wait. Wait a minute. You can't leave. . . "
There were many more angry, bigoted yelps, and one quiet Christian who said, "Sorry, you will reap what you sow," to which I replied, "we already have under George Bush. What's your point?" He screeched on off in his car.
I think there will be tremendous anger and doubt among the non-Barack supporters on Wednesday. I fear for his safety, truth be told, based on my own experiment here in western Washington. And this is a relatively ENLIGHTENED corner of America, so they say.
I can only hope my fears are not realized.
rh