A post from a friend of mine that truly embodies what is stirring around this nation.
"I suggest that the pollsters throw out all data for African American voting in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. This election is very different for AAs. In previous elections, the majority of us voted against Bush, but there was a wedge created by the Repulsicans when they appealed to the black church, and paid off black preachers. Particularly in 2004, where the pulpit of the black church became just another campaign stop for high level Repulsican candidates, including Bush.
In 2008, however, there is a ground swell in the black community, and silence from the megachurch leaders, lest they suffer the price of empty collection plates. In the past, we always had to choose the better of two representatives of the status quo. Change was not an option. This year the choice is as clear as a bell. You should see the lines in Atlanta for early voting. And the faces of the people waiting in lines stretching 60 to 100 minutes in length tell the story. "This one is for Florida in 2004!"... "This one is for Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964!"... "This one is for Katrina!"
Yes, we are voting against McCain, but even more importantly, for the first time, we have a candidate for whom to vote wholeheartedly. I've never seen or heard anything like this in our neighborhoods. All across the State of Georgia the racist political structure has historically herded us into "Buttermilk Bottom" isolated pockets of political powerlessness. This is the first time that we have an opportunity to rise up, join together and, in one resounding voice say, "Enough!"
I'm not sure you understand. This vote is 400 years in the making. Pollsters don't seem to take that into account. My 82-year old mother had to be rushed to the hospital last Sunday - congestive heart failure. One of the first things she asked when the oxygen mask was removed was "Will someone please get me an absentee ballot. I don't want to miss the election." Committed? Nah, black folks are *passionate* about this one. This is not only a vote for a candidate; it is a vote for America, the America we heard about from our parents and their parents, across the generations. Freedom and Liberty sound so trite these days, but I remember those words spoken by my Dad on his way to the March on Washington. January 20th will be a dream fulfilled. And if you are expecting only a 95% response on Election Day, you are misinterpreting the sound of the drum."
This is felt in everyone I meet and talk to who is an Obama supporter. I remember I was on the bus going to work and I saw an elderly white woman with a pin on her chest that said "L'shaa Obama". I told her I liked her button and I supported Obama as well and asked her what it meant. She told me that it meant "Year of Obama" and that she was just counting down the days until she could vote for him. It struck me that me and this elderly women probably have nothing in common but we still feel passionately about this election. This isn't just an election for us my friends, it's our lives, or futures, our hopes and our dreams. This is one election we CAN NOT and WILL NOT allow ourselves to sit on the sidelines and watch play out. We will win this election and we will win it because we care about our country enough to make it happen ourselves.
Great post. Rec'd.
October 15, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love this!
It's way overdue. This is the first election in my life - and in this country's history - where more people than just white people have a real choice - not just more of the same no matter which party you vote for. My god, I would have quit voting years ago if that's all that there ever had been offered to me.
And I agree with you - this is for Katrina - this is for all of us who cannot stand to see this injustice in this country continue like this - unaddressed, unseen and unappreciated in large part by many Americans.
That's one reason I support Obama - though he's everything I could ever have hoped for in a candidate over and above this - but dammit, yes, this is for Katrina, and for 400 years of abuse.
October 15, 2008 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Katrina? You must be kidding me! Katrina hit a DEMOCRAT run city in a DEMOCRAT run state. A city where the official disaster plan was to not have toilet facilities of food because they didn't want people to be 'too comfortable'. Democrats ran the show down there for years. They misappropriated the funds for the levies, spending them on everything but levy construction. Then when the inevitable happens, you blame republicans. Priceless!
October 15, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are truly a sad individual.
October 15, 2008 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its probably a waste responding to the cleverdog, a Bush04 dead ender, but the worst hurricane disaster in the USA since 1928 (Katrina-1,826 dead) is categorized as a 'major disaster' by our government - beyond the scope that can be handled by local or state resources, it requires a national response. From Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) federal training for medical providers :
“To establish a single integrated National
medical response capability for assisting
State and Local authorities in dealing with
the medical and health effects of major
peacetime disasters"
The Bush administration went on a crash program of disaster training of military/federal medical employees after Katrina due to the poor federal response. I know as I received the training.
October 15, 2008 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did all those employees start under the Bush Admin? Did all the plans, practices,procedures start when he was elected? Or was this the system that was in place for years, but you want to put all the blame on Bush? Why is it that things in Florida work out so smoothly? Oh, they have a republican in charge, instead of incompetent democrats.
October 16, 2008 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the union and has been since most of the oil companies left in the 80's. Now there was some partisan politics involved since Nagin chose not to endorse Gov Blanco in the race before Katrina. Of course, Bush didn't mind hanging her out to dry because she's a democrat.
The main thing to remember is the hurricane evacuation plan for N.O. was contracted out to IEM for $500,000. The CEO of this company is a woman by the name of Madhu Beriwal, a big time GOP contributor. A woman who didn't understand that a lot of people in New Orleans couldn't afford transportation.
Add that to the fact that Bush cut funding for levees in 2004 by 80 percent and the combat arms brigade of the Louisiana Army National Guard was in Iraq and weren't due to return until mid September '05 and you have a recipe for disaster.
October 15, 2008 8:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cuts to levies in 2004? Katrina hit in 2005. What about all the money allocated for levies for the previous decades? The money they spent on other more important projects, like a garage for a casino? As far as the guard units, not all of them were deployed, plus state police were available, plus NOPD. It is wrong to try to put the blame on Bush.
October 16, 2008 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
NOPD...State Troopers...
So what you're saying is we shouldn't rely on help from the federal government? Then why pay the federal income tax?
October 16, 2008 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Asshole:
Katrina hit MORE THAN ONE state -- THAT made it a FEDERAL issue.
You America-haters are so stubbornly fucking ignorant onf how your own system of laws -- Constitution/gov't -- is INTENDED to operate. It's no wonder you trash support and defend the war crime of troture.
October 16, 2008 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bulldog, Katrina also hit a Republican state, Mississippi, led by a Republican governor, and devastated my hometown, run by a Republican mayor and council.
And Bush played politics with the disaster recovery money to the hilt. He and a Republican-controlled Congress, through a MS Republican-chaired committee, appropriated MS everything it wanted the first time out, and short-changed Louisiana.
Contemptable.
And that's not all.
Bush's HUD Secretary waived the requirement that Mississippi, neck-and-neck with Louisiana for the poorest state in the nation, spend at least half the disaster recovery funds in ways to benefit low and moderate income people. Over 75 percent went into programs that won't help poor people, and will help wealthier people and businesses. At last report, MS had spent only 13 percent of its disaster recovery funds on working poor families.
Disgraceful.
3 years out, things are looking grim for the poorest storm victims in the poorest state in the nation, thanks to Bush and the GOP.
Change can't come soon enough.
October 16, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Beautiful post. Rec'd.
October 15, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
You brought a tear to this white girl's eye. Thanks so much for the post!
October 15, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen.
My vote, this one, is for the doubt, the hate, the remaining vestiges of redneck idiocy and racism that has crystallized in this election cycle.
Perhaps when it's over, as we're gathered around the smoldering remains of the not-so-GOP, we can sing gospel hymns and start the healing.
Lovely post. Thank you. Here's to a new America.
October 15, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Every white bread/white girl bone in my body shouts: "YES, we can." It is time, past time, never mind, time to be mindful that human decency is what matters. No more out-dated error in thinking or, worse, out-dated feeling. YES. WE. CAN. Rec'd.
October 15, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, amen. Justice will prevail this time.
October 15, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS VOTE is for Harry and Harriette Moore . . . and for Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman and a thousand others . . .
but I cannot help but think that the system is more broken than most people realize; that the candidates we are voting for really don't recognize the extent of evil and corruption they are up against . . . if they did, then the issue of free and fair and honest and open elections would have been front and center in this campaign.
It is not speculation, it is fact, that the GOP voter suppression strategy is advancing on all fronts. This could and should have been anticipated. Voices in the wilderness have spelled it all out, since BEFORE the 2004 election, and ever since then. Democratic leaders and candidates have begged us for money and time and effort---and more money---and done next to nothing about GOP election rigging.
We need to start planning for a general strike to start, nonviolently, when this election too is stolen. Do not wait for the candidates or the "leaders" to do anything . . . because they won't.
October 15, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only thing that could possibly make this win sweeter would be if I were black. When I look at the crowds at Obama rallies and see the tears in the eyes of so many people of color, all I can think of is how happy I am for you (and us!) and bask in the joy of what it must feel like to say to your kids...see? You can be anything you want!
Let's do it!
October 15, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't lose sight of the fact that it would be a victory for the whites also. Racism and segregation make victims of the blacks but it corrupts the soul of the whites. As a white who grew up in the South during the days of segregation, I can assure you that that is true. If this really, actually happens (which I really can't think about without getting teary-eyed) it may be a vindication for the blacks, but it will - finally - be a liberation for the whites. Now maybe we can just all be Americans. I hope so.
I grew up in the small-town South so there was much interaction between the races. We were neighbors and friends and almost family members in some cases, but always with that acknowledged-by-all barrier between us. In their hearts they knew that they were equal to us, and in our hearts we knew that we were not superior. It was, well, shaming in some sense I can't quite explain.
I know that if Obama wins, I'm going to lose it for a little while ..... just wishing so much that I could go back in time and tell those neighbors and friends and almost-family members, most of whom passed away long ago, what was in store for all of us not so very far down the road.
October 16, 2008 1:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Brought a tear to my eye...
October 15, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am very excited about this aspect of the election. While it doesn't change everything a President Obama certainly will bring some healing and change to unifying our country.
October 15, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fantastic!
This one should be for 2000 and the Civil Rights Movement warriors and victims as well. I can only say "should" because although I am a legal resident and love this country *I* can't vote here yet. *I* can only give money and volunteer.
Hell, this one should be for George Washington and the ragtag army of patriots he led, and for the amazing minds who conceived the very idea of this country.
Volunteering and giving money shouldn't matter all that much in a free country where one's actual vote defines citizenship . But we need, need, need to be able to put our wholehearted trust in votes honestly cast and honestly counted.
Thank you all for voting this time. I love you.
October 15, 2008 7:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am white,78 years ,have lost sleep in the past concerned about this election going in the wrong direction.
I became interested in Obama when he spoke 4 years ago / have never lost my HOPE for his intelligence,calm manner ,looks ,speaking and his family .
Now we include Biden and his family what more could we want or ask for ?
We already knew he was our gift "The One' but them reminding us of this "The One " even made it even better.
We know the road ahead will not be easy we all have to put our best foot forward but know we have leaders this time.
Go Obama/Biden we love you guys and your familys 08/12
October 15, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS! is what I'm talking about! I truly believe that we finally have a meaningful choice in this election.
Great post, thank you.
October 15, 2008 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Glad to help, I know we all feel passionately about this election no matter our race, we are all Pro-America and we will win this election because we have the best ticket with the best ideas and the best chance for fixing this mess.
October 15, 2008 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
This Liberal fifty plus white woman is absolutely thrilled by Obama's choice.
I have not been inspired by a Democratic candidate in a long time. But Obama is so charismatic without trying to be so, and is a scary smart man.
When I listen to Obama's speeches, I DO see him as the One. I have hero worship for him.
This election is for all of us who believe.....YES WE CAN.
October 15, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a great post and says so much about what is happening in this country right now. We are voting against the repubs, but for the first time in my lifetime since John Kennedy we are voting FOR someone, not just the lesser of two evils.
"Passion" doesn't even begin to explain the feeling and I think the polls have underestimated all the votes - this is going to be the biggest landslide we've ever seen. It's the only way we can really send a message to the right wing and change this country. If it's close they can whine and try to steal votes or criticize why voters were "hoodwinked" into voting for Obama. A landslide turns it into a undeniable message for change and eliminates ANY doubt about what that message is.
October 15, 2008 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I voted FOR Jimmy Carter.
October 16, 2008 1:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Amen. A good reminder that this election is not about making a bunch of small changes but making a big change: profound and lasting. We will never be able to go back to the way it was before.
October 15, 2008 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am so glad this was posted. My sense is that most of the people in this country have no idea what a watershed event this election is likely to be and what it will mean to so many people. It will not be so much an end as a beginning... a real historical event... one that will be celebrated in many homes across the land.
It has been far too long in coming. If you are in a position to ensure that it happens, keep doing whatever you can do.
October 15, 2008 11:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wonderful post - Recommended!
The last time I saw the country so excited about a presidential candidate was when Bobby Kennedy decided to run. I was very young, but old enough to remember how he ignited the nation. It has been a long 40 years, but finally, we once again have a candidate that has ignited this nation.
I have been a bystander in politics for the past 40 years, voting for the least of the 2 evils. I am excited to be able to cast my vote this year for someone I truly believe will bring change to this country.
October 15, 2008 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was in high school when Bobby Kennedy ran, and it was the 1st and only time I ever worked for a campaign, until now...I, too, am feeling the same excitement as I did then...
October 16, 2008 12:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was 12 when JFK announced, and 15 when he was murdered. I was old enough, that is, to vote in 1968. RFK did NOT "ignite the nation"; he "ignited" those who were enamored of him.
For many of the rest of us, the problems had been created by politics, so could not be solved by politics. That is how far off the political spectrum many of us were pushed by events, and by LBJ-Humphrey-mainstream politics-Nixon-Agnew.
October 16, 2008 1:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Watching on television, the emotional content of Obama rallies and McCain/Palin rallies feel very different.
Obama rallies are all about goals, togetherness, and unity, while McCain/Palin rallies seem to be all about identity, separation, and division.
And I think people are more excited about unity than about division.
October 16, 2008 12:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your comment reminds me of a fantasy I have entertained before. It's like the classic culture contrast that was made in the movie Platoon--the one where all the hep cats are grooving together in comfortable brotherhood when the 'rednecks and squares' are drinking beer and daring each other to knock each others chips off their shoulders. The contrast in that scene did more to illuminate the foundation of the 'culture wars' than any other I have seen in American cinema. They make fun of us for singing together, but we got all the great songs"
Well don't you let nobody turn you 'round
Turn you 'round, turn you 'round
Well don't you let nobody turn you 'round
You got to keep on walkin', keep on talkin'
Marchin' to the freedom land
Well don't you let nobody turn you 'round
Turn you 'round, turn you 'round
Well don't you let nobody turn you 'round
You got to keep on walkin', keep on talkin'
Marchin' to the freedom land
Well don't you let the policeman turn you 'round
Turn you 'round, turn you 'round
Well don't let the policeman turn you 'round
You got to keep on walkin', keep on talkin'
Marchin' to the freedom land
Well don't let the politician turn you 'round
Slow you down, slow you down
Well don't let the politician slow you down
You got to keep on walkin', keep on talkin'
Marchin' to the freedom land
Well don't you let the army general burn the world
Burn the world, burn the world
Well don't let the army general burn this world
You got to keep on walkin', keep on talkin'
Marchin' to the freedom land
Well don't you let nobody turn you 'round
Turn you 'round, turn you 'round
Well don't you let nobody turn you 'round
You got to keep on walkin', keep on talkin'
Marchin' to the freedom land
October 16, 2008 9:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Witnessing the misdirected rage of people at recent McCain/Palin rallies, the soul-killing racism that shames our country, my heart sunk into a pit where I doubted whether there is any real hope of change. But after reading this post, I feel like I know a little better the meaning behind these everyday incidents: they are just the helpless last gasps of bigots who know they can't stop a black man from being elected to the highest office in the land. Their white supremacist beliefs started centuries ago, and are now being purged from our culture in a way that we haven't seen in half a century. This is the next phase of the civil rights movement, and something new is about to come of it. We are living through history in the making, and I'm glad there are so many millions of people out there -- in America and around the world -- who are as excited as I am about President Obama.
October 16, 2008 2:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thsi middle aged white man is looking forward to casting a vote FOR someone for Prsident for the first time ever..and I ahve not missed one since my generation fought for the right to vote as an 18 year old (the slogan then was old enough to die for my country old enough to vote).
Too many votes for "the lesser of two evils".
What I am really looking forward to, and fully expecting, is the supreme satisfaction of Obama's second term when he shows the neocons that intgelligence and true bi-partisanship can indeed govern the country. When the extremists of the right screaming "He's going to bring socialism to the United States" is emonstrated to be the completly rediculous claim it is.
I loved the post and I have seen so many similar examples in my travels... We just eed to hold on afterwards as those all mighty pundits try and paint this a a race based election becuase of the high turn out of AA...we must make them realize that over 50 white Americans also supported Obama in great numbers.
October 16, 2008 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Amazing.
You say, "In the past, we always had to choose the better of two representatives of the status quo. Change was not an option."
In 1992 and again in 1996 change was an option and change did happen. Especially for blacks. Just because the candidate wasn't black didn't mean he didn't exist, or that overall blacks didn't prosper greatly from his work.
So far Obama has yet to introduce one budget, implement one program, hold one cabinet meeting. How about holding off on throwing Bill under the bus until at least when Obama's inaugurated. Or is this how you treat friends?
October 16, 2008 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I still want a button that says UNITY. I want a way to say that I'm a white person who has been passionately committed to civil rights for as long as I understood that concept, certainly over 50 years.
My story of the ER happened last week. I was accompanying my elderly parents. But the story happened because I had on my OBAMA button. And the AA lady at the desk across from my mother's ER room said: "I want your pin!" And I handed it right over! I was thrilled to share that feeling with her. Not only that, I had an extra OBAMA t-shirt - out in the car. I asked if she wanted that too. She did!
I feel such love for this UNITY and for all people coming together under this umbrella of the same movement.
It diminishes all of us when any group is systematically diminished. So, even though it may not seem possible that white people too (and I am one) would rejoice wholeheartedly at this moment, gosh.... I'm ready to cry at the thought of this good man becoming president... the thought of how much it means that he's 50% you and 50% me - and cares 100% about you and me and the guy behind that tree.
October 16, 2008 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Man, this is just all weird to me.
Spike Lee had it in Crooklyn - the black kids jumping on the bed singing along to the Partridge Family. There's been a fair bit of unity for 30 years now, getting better all the time. There was a big party in the 90's, kind of a coming out. More black civil servants, managers, engineers, politicians who weren't just civil rights based.
And now it's like I'm supposed to hop back in a time capsule and pretend it never happened - there were flaws in the script, we have to shoot from the beginning.
I was in China once watching a celebration of 50 years of the Communist takeover, and a Chinese friend who's certainly no fan of Communists was watching the celebration and beaming with pride. And sure, Chinese society had come a long way in 50 years even though the celebration looked rather hackneyed and unpalatable from my view - lots of soldiers leaping and other kind of ominous or kind of silly looking acts. But she was proud of the feeling, so it didn't really matter what flaws there were in the presentation. The point was their progress, even if she disagreed with their whole political system.
So I understand it's a red-letter day for African-Americans, and I'm honestly happy for them and for us, another piece of our imperfect past put a bit further behind, another sign that the beat goes on. I can complain about certain details of this year's campaign, but I certainly don't complain about the visuals, that the halls of power are becoming more and more accommodating. But let's not distort the past, or continue making Obama out to be something he's not. He has a tough job ahead, and we'll see where his energy and ideals and compromises and circumstances take him and us. He'll need support and constructive criticism - not a free ride or illusory over-expectation. He's already let me down with FISA/retroactive immunity and pushing for the $700 billion bailout. I'm sure there will be more, though I hope with less compromise because of less opposition from the right. But I still don't know. It's an open book.
October 16, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink