On the Issue of Race

Much has been said regarding Barack Obama’s historic Presidential run, and few things have been mentioned more frequently than his race.  A quick search on CNN yielded several news stories, and Google News has plenty of them as well, regarding the issue of race in this election.  The opinions found in those stories vary quite a bit: some people think it will matter in the election, others think it won’t, and others attempt to persuade their readers that it shouldn’t matter, even if it does.  Having been raised in a so-called ‘battleground state,’ and in a predominantly-white area of that state, I can tell you from personal experience that race most certainly matters to some people, and likely will matter in this election.

When school let out for winter break in December of 2006, I flew back to my hometown where I met a veteran of the Vietnam War and a self-proclaimed lifelong Democrat.  We discussed the next Presidential election and upon learning of his political affiliation, I asked his opinion of Barack Obama, who I had heard was considering running for President.  This man admitted that he didn’t know much about Obama, and that he would never vote for a black person because he had learned during his time spent in Southeast Asia that “…they [black people] can’t be trusted.”  I returned again in December of 2007 during the next winter break, and I ran into the same guy.  Unfortunately, his position had yet to change, and he still would not be voting for a black candidate.  Perhaps most interesting to those of you who didn’t grow up in the same area as I did is that I wasn’t at all surprised by his statements.  Racism was and apparently still is normal, acceptable behavior for some people in that part of the country.

How normal was it?  Funny you should ask:

When I was in second grade, I was made fun of by my classmates for wearing ‘n—-r pants,’ which were black khakis that my grandmother had bought for me.  Like a lot of grandmothers, she chose a pair that were several sizes too big so that I could ‘grow into them,’ a hold-over from the Depression Era, I suppose.  However, her decision had the unfortunate and unintended consequence of making me look like MC Hammer, according to the kids at my school.  I remember sitting at a table in the cafeteria at my high school as one of my classmates explained to me why using the word ‘n—-r’ is acceptable.  I would have said ‘one of my white classmates,’ but aside from the adopted Korean girl, all of my classmates were white, as were all of my teachers and school administrators from kindergarten through graduation.  The parents of a friend of mine adopted a child and upon doing so, were asked by their priest to not return to their church because that child was black.  For more than a year I dated a girl who isn’t white and there were people in my life who I never introduced her to for fear of what may have transpired solely because of the color of her skin.

Just to be clear, I don’t think that a majority of people from my hometown harbor racist opinions, but there are a few.  The point of this post is that Ashland is just one small sliver of the American population and it is moronic to think that there aren’t a number of people across the country who share the views of the people I have mentioned here.

I’m saying it here first: even if Barack Obama wins a majority of Ohio’s 88 counties, you can bet that on November 4th, Ashland County will be blood-red just like it was in 2004, 2000, 1996, 1992, 1988 and 1984.  Why?  Hopefully because the majority of Ashlanders are Republican and vote with their party.  But based upon personal experience I’m guessing that it will be, at least in part, because race matters to some people regardless of whether or not the rest of us like or accept it.

UPDATE 1 – Nov. 10, 2008: My prediction was correct, John McCain won Ashland County with 60% of the vote.

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