Racism alarms Obama's backers: Foot soldiers encounter name-calling, vandalism, bomb threats

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Racism alarms Obama's backers

Candidate's foot soldiers encounter name-calling, vandalism, bomb threats

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24588813/

By Kevin Merida
updated 12:04 a.m. PT, Tues., May. 13, 2008

WASHINGTON - Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.

Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."

For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

[Kittycat]

1. We really shouldn't be giving these racists a platform.

IMO - letting it lie is just fine with me. When you make it an issue, you validate their hate.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Yes we should. White folks have been pretending all season that there are very few racists...

... I want to see just how many there are, so that that particular Clinton-supporter-lie can be put to rest.

[uponit7771]

2. Change is coming, people are going to fight

[RubyDuby in GA]

3. Something to add - this asshole needs to be drummed out of business:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/05/13/mulligans_0514.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Cobb bar protested as racist for Obama T-shirts
Mulligan's selling shirts with 'Curious George' picture

Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he's peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with "Obama in '08" scrolled underneath, are "cute." But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.

"It's time to put an end to this," said Rich Pellegrino, a Mableton resident and director of the Cobb-Cherokee Immigrant Alliance. It was among the organizations planning to gather outside Mulligan's Bar and Grill Tuesday afternoon to protest the "racist and highly offensive" shirts.

"There's no place for these views, not in this day and age," he said.

Just down the street from Marietta's famous Big Chicken, Mulligan's has carved a provocative niche in an increasingly multicultural area, thanks to its owner's ultra-conservative political views. If you live in Marietta, it's impossible not to know what's on Norman's mind, as he posts his views on signs in front of Mulligan's.

[Galway girl]

4. And yet he only lost Indiana by 1% . I wouldn't worry there will always be people like this

[demnan]

5. This shouldn't surprise anyone

We live in a society where there is racism and it isn't all in the south either. If anything, the south is more accepting in some areas than the midwest and north. Now that Obama is sure to win the nomination, this will get worse.

[griffi94]

10. you're right it's not all in the south

from my personal experience having been raised in the south and having traveled a lot outside of the south. one of the most racists regions i've ever seen was rural ohio. i'm not trashing ohio or saying all it's residents are racist, only that on my first visit there it really surprised me.

i live in austin and a have friend here who is from michigan. he says he's noticed a few subtle differences between northern and southern racism. the biggest one he says is that northern racists are accepting of african americans as a race but hate them as individuals. southerners hate african americans as a race but have no problems with them as individuals. from the perspective of somebody raised in rural east texas i think he got the southern part right.

[SoCalDem]

6. Indiana has many nasty pockets of evil

as do many states... Fortunately they are NOT the majority, and campaigns have to provide security for their workers...but they also need to know that there are just some people who will NEVER change :(

[rucky]

7. This is all expected.

winning this election will be sweet.

[lligrd]

8. All The More Reason To Celebrate When Obama Wins The GE

To hell with those idiots.

[Egnever]

11. It will be a glorious day indeed

My only concern is that somehow during his presidency Obama is saddled with something that harms race relationships going forward. I don't think it will happen but it does concern me. I would feel the same about hillary and women. In fact one of the largest concerns I have with hillary at this point is that she is doing damage to womens chances going forward from her with her wild flailing. That seems to have stopped now though so hopefully she will be able to walk away from this thing with her and womens dignity intact.

[lligrd]

13. I Wouldn't Worry So Much

From what I can see anyway, the younger generation is far less fixed on race, gender and sexual identity and seems to see people as individuals. As long as that trend continues, we are in good shape.

[shomino]

18. This is true, but..

This election cannot be won by the younger generation alone. We are going to need a far larger coalition than that. I'm not saying that we are not currently building that coalition, we are. It's just that we do indeed need to recognize the obstacles that stand in our way for what they are.

[Barack_America]

12. It's beautiful to see young Americans carrying the torch of civil rights.

That's what this campaign is about to me.

It's no longer about Obama the man, it's about Obama the motivator of remembering (and fighting for) what's good in this country.

[Aloha Spirit]

15. You got that right!

[shomino]

19. Amen to that...

What really angers me is when people say that the "civil rights movement is over", and that all the work has been done.

We still have a long way to go in this country. Anyone who suggests otherwise is attempting to pull us backward, away from the goal of real equality.

[thevoiceofreason]

14. My wife and I caught a little of that in NC

But I am a fairly big guy, and I smile a lot, and I was actually able to engage a few of these folks (can't say I changed their minds, but they at least shut off the vitriol while I was around them).

[demnan]

16. I remember when Doug Wilder won as Governor of Virginia

I went to work the next day and some of my co-workers were shocked. Hated working for that particular company. I had a laugh that day though.

[shomino]

17. Careful, I guess we're not allowed to say the word "racism" around here anymore

I guess the attitude of a few of the posters here is: "Just pretend it isn't there and it won't affect us." I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. I think the only way to work at solving the problem is to expose it and address it for what it is.

What's really stunning is how many people think that racism no longer even "exists" in the U.S.. I'm wondering what planet these people are from...