"I'm Voting for the Ni@@er!"
I have seen several anecdotes like this, including one from PA. While I detest the "N" word in a weird way this type of discussion is actually moving the entire race discussion forward. This one comes from Big Stone Gap,VA and the great "On the Road" series from 538.com:
Last week, Julie Hensley made one of her thousands of phone calls on behalf of Barack Obama. A woman answered. As Hensley ran through her short script, the husband impatiently broke in.
"Ma'am, we're voting for the n***er." And hung up.
Hensley wasn't having it. "I went and made a couple other calls but chafed over this absurdity," she told us, "so I called them back, as I still had a couple questions for the wife." This time the man answered, asked pointedly who she was, and when she replied he hung up again.
As for Hensley, her story ended with a twist. A couple hours later during a pause in her dials, her phone rang. She recognized the number. "This is going to be good," she remembers thinking, getting ready to scrap.
It was the husband. He was calling for the woman on whom he'd hung up. She then got something she didn't expect -- an apology. Calmly, Hensley told the man she'd accept his apology on one condition -- he had to tell her who he was voting for.
"Oh, I don't normally talk about it but I feel like I owe you," the man said. "I am voting for Senator Obama." He asked if Hensley would like to speak to his wife, as he'd interrupted the original call. Hensley mentioned that she had been surprised when he'd called to apologize. Apparently the husband and wife had been talking the entire couple hours since the original call. "Did she get upset with you?" Hensley asked.
"What do you think?" the man replied.
Something tells me that Barack would not be offended by this and view the end result as one beginning step in the progress he is seeking. His performance will finish these folks conversion and change their attitudes and hence the national discussion.
(I'm naturally a little turned-off by this title, but I must admit it certainly got my attention).
I think this anecdote makes a serious point - one that deserves serious thought and discussion. The point (as I see it) is that we cannot wait for a perfect, idealized PC mindset to take root everywhere in the country before any expectation of progress. That is never going to happen in the first place, and there's no NEED for waiting in the second place.
REAL progress is going to happen in little bits and pieces, in the minds of everyday people like the gentleman quoted. He may not have arrived at the place where he uses the 'right' WORDS or even thinks the 'right' thoughts, but he's willing to take a constructive ACTION. For whatever practical, down-to-earth reason, he's decided that Sen. Obama is a better man to put into the White House than Sen. McCain.
I doubt his choice has very much to do with social justice, or any other sort of high-minded 'feel-good'-ism. Like most of America's better ideas, it's rooted in a pragmatic sense of what WORKS. That is nearly always how we eventually stumble to progress, and prevail in a difficult, competitive world all too full of fanatics and wooly-headed philosophers. We're the place finally who DOES things.
I think you're right: Sen. Obama would understand and approve.
October 25, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
OK, folks now we need to go to work to support Dennis Shulman (D-NJ) against the republican who is running a dishonest campaign against him.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/07/28/080728ta_talk_toobin
http://shulmanforcongress.com/
October 25, 2008 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think as Obama does a much better job than Bush, and slowly but surely helps to improtve the lives of these regular folk, his share of the electorate will rise. As many of those 6% who will not vote for him because he is black maybe 2 or 3 percent will change their minds about their ignorance. O will do alot for race relations, without many people even realizeing it.
October 25, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, here's my reaction and no offense, but I've heard this story now 5 times from 5 different states and 5 different people supposedly said this or something like it.
It's an urban legend from this campaign - I'm afraid.
October 25, 2008 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or its true. It is totally in character with the culture. I know cause I lived with people just like that.
October 25, 2008 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It is totally in character with the culture."
I agree. The wry humor in the comment would be appreciated and quickly repeated.
How many people making the comment are sincere and how many are using it to confound canvassers for the fun of it is another question.
I do think the humor of it will help some people who were uncomfortable with their Obama preference to actually get out and vote for him.
October 25, 2008 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
In places in the South and Appalachia the casual use of the n-word can in no way be used as a reliable barometer of the depth of someone's racism. I've made phone calls into those areas because I've spent enough time there to have some appreciation for the complexity of how people in that part of the country feel about race. I've gotten people to consider Obama who initially told me they wouldn't vote for that n----r. If they don't hang up the phone on me I ask them if they think someone in the White House who is supported by donors who have given less than a hundred dollars each or someone whose campaign is being run by big money lobbyists will best represent their interests. After that I ask open-ended questions about the issues that concern them. I listen and talk as long as they want and I bite my tongue bloody no matter what they say. I would be willing to bet that at least twenty to thirty percent will pull the lever for Obama although I doubt if many will share that fact publicly.
The biggest barrier that I have encountered in my phone calls is apathy rather than racism. Many people have simply given up on the notion that any politician will do a darned thing to make their lives better.
October 25, 2008 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
there are many comments being made about the ignorant phone conversation "I'm voting for the ni@@er".But most seem to be forgetting something; Just because the caller was making an ignorant comment, does not mean that the United States needs to become an "Obam-a -nation"!Obama holds a "revisionist" or "Living Breathing constitution" view of the constitution in which each generation has the right to "RE-INTERPRET" the constitution: Simply said, the Bill of Rights can be changed by simply changing the interpretation of the language to suite whatever oppressive action that the government wants to impose.This is dangerous and against the Ideals set forth by our forefathers.Voting for Obama is NOT a constructive action, it is a step toward becoming something less, not because of "race" but because of his ideology!I do not think McCain is the answer, but at least he won't errode our constitution as much.
October 26, 2008 1:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
With regard to your last question I have to ask a followup:
Are you high?
October 26, 2008 4:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry for the preface: I'm African American and I have heard versions of this story, including one in my hometown of Philadephia.
Let me put it like this: I'd much rather have this guy voting for Obama than not, and I agree with One Wilson that we cannot wait for a perfect world or to have the door politely smilingly held open.
Sometimes the door is open just a crack and the person holding it open has a scowl on his face and may even be muttering nasty things. But he won't turn you away if you just keep walking through!
I actually love that this Virginia guy felt the need to call back and apologize and that he insisted the Obama caller talk to his wife. Sounds to me like the guy is working on the equality thing on two fronts: race and gender!
This is probably the way people really change. It ain't always pretty, but man, this is definitely major major progress! I say celebrate!
October 25, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's great that people who formerly wouldn't vote for the ni@@er have changed their minds. First, it will help Obama win. Second, it will start a bond between Obama and those people. It will likely cause them to be more open to him (they've made an investment). Third, it proves that those "bitter" people know how to vote their interest. I see this as great news for our country.
Just think, they could have sat out the election instead.
October 25, 2008 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hah!! " Sounds to me like the guy is working on the equality thing on two fronts: race and gender!"
And, yes, this is precisely how change happens, from the inside out. Obviously the big change has already occurred inside the heart of this man -- he's decided that the black man is better and better for the country/his world. That is the core of racism: the assumption or belief that one is *better* because of a white (or other) skin color. That's the fundamental change. That doesn't mean you overcome in that same instance the habits and language of a lifetime. It's obvious which is more important.
As someone who grew up in the South at a time when that term was routinely applied to all blacks - by almost everyone in my family for that matter! - it was still possible to distinguish between the ones who were racists and the ones who were not: by their ACTIONS, towards blacks and towards other whites who treated blacks badly.
Words do matter -- and making the change from ordinary, everyday use of a derogatory word did help people to stop and think. But actions matter the most. I don't doubt that this account, and others like them, are accurate. It's not at all unbelievable. ------- And I like this man better than the one who says all the right words and then goes into the voting booth and pulls the lever for the white candidate because "that other gentleman with the duskier skin tone is just not like us."
(I like his wife even better!!)
October 25, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
This topic makes me wish Obama would drop out of the race and give America the McCain/Palin presidency it deserves.
October 25, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, that's what Ralph Nader said in 2000. And it worked so well that after four criminally incompetent years of George Bush...oh wait.
October 25, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't scare me like that.
October 25, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
America deserved to get raped by Bush and his pirate friends. What better way to reward the criminally ignorant population for voting for him in the first place?
I was only talking a little trash because the subject here pissed me off. I was just suggesting that maybe a segment of the nation(the racist bigoted asshole portion) deserves to be led by the likes of McCain and Palin. I wasn't serious. There are many animals of the field I would not wish that on.
October 25, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, Bush was not elected in either election. Voter suppression and a complicit Supreme Court took care of 2000; Diebold "flipping" votes in close precincts (Ohio) took care of 2004.
What Americans should be blamed for is that nothing was done in the interim to keep the same effing thing from happening again!
October 25, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
OH MY GOD!! You nut cases never give up. Bush won, twice. Because he got more votes, in the right states. I wish we were able to rig elections (unlike the dems, we don't have ACORN creating millions of fake voters).
October 25, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pop quiz: How many votes can a fake voter registration form cast?
October 25, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nut cases? When will you be reading the Constitution for the FIRST time in your life?
The Constitution authorizes ONE branch, by name, to resolve ellection disputes such as that in 2000. The branch stipulated is:
CONGRESS.
By contrast, the UNELECTED SC has no legitimate role in resolving ELECTION disputes. Thus, in 2000, the US SC unconstitutionally usurped that exclusive authority in order to appoint its choice, the Bushit criminal enterprise.
And the hard evidence -- you can see scans of it online -- is that the OH vote was stolen for Bush in 2004.
You should know what you're talking about before opening your mouth and bellowing uninfomred bullshit which has repeatedly been shown to be bullshit.
If you love America, then you love the Constitution. If you love the Constitution, then you obey it. If you don't give a damn for anything except winning by whatever means are necessary, no matter how lawless, putting your country before country, then you are an America-hating liar, a coward and a traitor.
And everyone knows it INCLUDING YOU.
October 25, 2008 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beautiful! I have nothing to add!
October 25, 2008 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
"America" includes those who saw it for what it was as it transpired, and therefore who do NOT deserve it.
Do YOU deserve it?
I wish smug assholes would stop making claims about "most" Americans -- most of whom they've never met or interviewed, most of whom they'll never meet, and the thoughts of most of whom they do not know.
October 25, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
America also includes millions more who voted for Bush and millions who voted for Kerry or Gore that didn't exactly take to the streets to stop any of the fuckery. I didn't say most Americans. Learn how to read ya smug asshole. You definitely deserved Bush ;)
October 26, 2008 3:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with your argument, but, I'm not sure I'd hold out hope for or even expect mass social disorder in the wake of a presidential election.
Aside from a few protests and slight social disturbances our society doesn't seem to operate like that.
October 26, 2008 5:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
What's wrong TM? You have a problem with Change?
October 25, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, I'd love some change. After 35 years of dealing with the disgusting ignorance and bigotry this nation has to offer it gets a little tired. I'm just not in a patient mood right now. The word in the title and the character who uttered it in the phone call are a tad troubling.
October 25, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I just spent my afternoon making calls for Obama in Crozet, Virginia. My list was of people voting in my district, the youngest of whom was 65. I was not looking forward to it, but I only had 3 absolute McCain people. One person, who answered the phone for her parents, who absentee voted for McCain, told me that it was just as well that they weren't home because they won't even listen to her, never mind me!
One man, who told me he already had two Obama canvassers at his house today, said he would vote for Warner (senate) and Pariello (Congress) but although he agrees with Obama on all other issues, he is pro-life and just can't see beyond that issue. I told him that I respected the fact that he had obviously put a lot of thought into his decision but I wanted him to think about one other thing: abortions have not decreased under the republicans; that no democrat is pro-abortion; and that Obama's goal is to reduce abortions across the board. I don't know if it made a difference, but I think he was listening, anyway.
The only other similar conversation was with a woman who was for Obama and Pariello, but she is mad at Warner for decisions he made as governor than impacted UVA (where she works). I asked her if she remembered Jim Gilmore's record as a governor, and suggested that the only reason he didn't hurt UVA is because he didn't think of it because he was such a disaster. She said, "You've got a point there."
The fact is, Gilmore doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell, but he is such a pathetic loser it is important that he gets as few votes as possible.
BTW, while I was at the Obama headquarters, I overheard conversations about plans for November 4th to do a "Geek Squad" type of effort with lawyers, etc to go wherever there are problems at polling places. They are so organized; maybe McCain is too, but I am so impressed with Obama's campaign (duh)!
October 25, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
(I'm naturally a little turned-off by this title, but I must admit it certainly got my attention).
_____
Same here. But there is only one reason I read it without hesitation: It was posted by John Nail.
Thank you, John, for a bit of positive clarity through the fogs of unfounded hatred.
October 25, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect the deeply offensive language will continue to be used casually, perhaps more than today, because more of those who use such language will have a multiracial man in their lives -- their president.
Where racism will diminish is among those who think they are not racists. One day last week, NPR interviewed prospective voters. One elderly woman said that she was afraid of an Obama presidency, that "they" would want to get "theirs," that whites would have to move across the street when encountering one of "them." Before saying this she prefaced her comments by saying she was not a racist and didn't want to have her words taken wrongly. After a few years of a President Obama, her fears will diminish as will her racism.
October 25, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope you're right.
I totally agree about the first bit though - those that are able to convince themselves that their ideas about the 'others' getting 'theirs' are going to cling to their racism for far longer than those for whom it is an out-front and clear-cut matter.
October 26, 2008 5:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
what a strethc the interpretation is. Oy!
October 25, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I grew up in Louisiana...
Among my first political memories ..the early 1960's, local color taunting me as an NWord lover
Voted for the NWord on October 6 about 10:30 am City Hall SFCA
One of those remember where-you-were-moments
Oui on peut!
Filmed in Opelousas, LA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLvgwHGlpdQ
October 25, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Charles Cook who also hails from LA originally put it very well on MSNBC earlier this week when he pointed to Bobby Jindal. Roughly "Louisiana didn't elect the son of Indian immigrants because they wanted to make some statement about cultural diversity...their backs were against the wall and they wanted change.."
That's why there will be some surprises in the South in 10 days
October 25, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I grew up in Appalachia and Obama's presidency will bring much needed progress. Yes, they still use the N word, but even they can see how cool he is - how smart he is. And it will make a difference because they need to see it to realize how normal it is.
October 25, 2008 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is not all that recent. I heard a version of it on, I think, public radio back in March or April.
Supposedly a volunteer in a veteran's nursing home of some kind was asked by resident, "Isn't there a n****r running for president?" Trained to not disagree with the residents, she said, "Yes, Senator Obama is a black man and he's running".
The resident said, "Yep, that's who I'm voting for".
Seems too good a punchline to resist...
October 25, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Every time I hear a version of this story, I think of that caller on the NPR show, I think it was Talk of the Nation.
And, while I've heard, like others, versions of this story numerous times, I actually believe it may have happened more than once.
Last month, I saw my father in law, a Catholic, h.s. educated, former career military guy, and asked him who he was voting for. He paused for a second, obviously uncomfortable, and said, well, I admit it,*pause* I'm voting for the black man.
Well, of course, saying 'black man' is not saying the "N" word. However, you could tell that he was struggling with the very notion that our society has finally progressed to a point where an African-American can be elected president.
I think identifying Obama as the "black man" rather than as "Obama" or the "Democrat" is a way some of these people who are uncomfortable with the notion of an African-American president to keep a bit of their white privilege.
You know, stepping out of preconceived notions isn't the easiest thing to do for some people. But, I agree with the post above that after a few years of an Obama presidency, people like my FIL will wonder why voting for the "black man" was ever such a stuggle.
October 25, 2008 8:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Until I hear it myself, I am with Tena -- it's urban legend, this "voting for the n*gger" story.
Now, I will say that perhaps it started because there are people who are a bit bigoted who are voting for Obama.
I can name some of them. My Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins in Southeastern Ohio, and my Uncle's parents. This, when my Aunt e-mailed me during the primary asking if it was true that I was campaigning for "the Muslim." This, in a town where I grew up and until the age of 12 did not realize that people called the local public pool the "Ink Well" because only black people went there.
There is soft bigotry, and there is the hard racism of calling people n*gger casually. I know for a fact that Obama has won over some of the soft bigots. I am unconvinced he's won over hard racists.
I leave the gray area in between for history to clarify.
October 25, 2008 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
This guy was not a racist. Just angry for whatever reason and wanted to get rid of you and/or punish his wife.
Racists do not apologize and do not call Obama Senator Obama.
The problem is not with these people. He used the word nigger like other people use the word bitch. If you do that when you are out of control that doesn't mean you are sexist.
The problem is with people who really hate black people simply because they are black or at least believe that they are inherently inferior. And you can be sure those people will not change just because Obama is president.
October 26, 2008 1:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am always taken back by racism. I have never understood why people judge a person skin color over character. For me, Senator Obama's ethnicity was never an issue. Any word that degraded any person's ethnicity always made me uneasy. It is clearly disrespectful no matter how you look at it. I was taught as a Catholic that everyone was God's children and to treat everyone like you would want to be treated.
What makes a person has more to do with character then ethnicity. No one chooses their ethnicity any more than gender. But everyone chooses how they act. Senator Obama has presented himself to the country in away that makes him much more capable for being a good president. McCain, on the other, has not.
October 26, 2008 3:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I posted this for effect. Had I really wanted to shock I would not have used the @@. :-)
Good discussion everyone. I DETEST the "N" word. I had a grandfather who was the most amazing human being, devout Baptist who would have helped anyone who used a variation of this word in a descriptive, not hatred sort of way.
Yesterday I was walking into a McDonalds across the street from our GOTV HQ in SW Atlanta and listened to a group of young black guys using this term between each other. Go figure, to me it is the word representing the past that needs a stake put thru its heart forever.
Whether this is urban legend or had one "father" the fact that it is getting discussed by all of us and others is important. We need to simply get all these ugly words and ideas out in the sunlight which is the best sterilizer in the world..
October 26, 2008 3:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
who gives a shit what a die-hard racist thinks or feels. nobody needs their vote. this country will take big leaps forwards once those old decrepit diaper wearing scumbag bigots and their racist views finally croak. the sooner the better. there is no need asking their opinion on anything. some might say everyone has an opinion(fuck that not them). it's these bastards that have held this country back. it's fuckin 2008 and we should be further along than we are now.
October 26, 2008 4:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's a Nipper running?
October 26, 2008 4:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Question for the poster (or anyone) who feels "racism will diminish among those who think they are not racists." How will this group correct a problem they don't believe exist?
October 26, 2008 5:08 AM | Reply | Permalink