Canvassing Story

by: Jim in Chicago

Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 22:42:52 PM CST


I was canvassing in Chciago's 11th Ward (Northern-most edge of IL-3 Congressional District) as part of Northside DFA's work on behalf of grassroots/netroots candidate Mark Pera today (Saturday). According to my "walk sheet" the house I was approaching had an elderly Democratic voter. As is often the case, this voter no longer lived there. I began to deliver my pitch to the new occupant, but the woman who answered the door stopped me when I talked about electing a Congressman with REAL Democratic values.

She told me she was a Republican because "I want the niggers to have to get up for work every morning just like I do."
Jim in Chicago :: Canvassing Story
I thought to myself: Yes, I can see why you are a Republican.

So was this an unfair thought, or does this woman represent the true feelings of a large swath of Republicans, even though most (at least around here) would probably not be so candid as to admit their feelings so boldly to a complete stranger?

Please weigh in by commenting and voting in my poll.

Cross Posted at Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

Poll
What % of Republicans are closet (or open) racists?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

Results

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Canvassing Story | 16 comments
I would make sure... (0.00 / 0)
...that she would be challenged at the voting booth if here registration was not exactly perfect.  Esp. if it shows someone else living at that address.
oh and for the person that thought.. (0.00 / 0)
that 0% of the Republican party is racist.  What world are you living in.  I would bet even 10% of the Democratic party is racist.  I live in Republican central and I would say closer to half my building is racist.  Although they seem more troubled by Hispanics than they do African Americans.
There are plenty in both parties (0.00 / 0)
A lot of people vote Democratic just because they see the GOP as, say, anti-union but they are quite conservative and provincial and even racist otherwise. I saw this a lot in Hoosierville where I grew up. What that woman said to you is nothing I haven't heard a thousand times at least.

I would say that plenty of Republicans and independents see themselves as non-racists. The big difference IMO is that you see more anti-racists in the Democratic and Green parties.

We're all racist to one degree or another (0.00 / 0)
so the first question becomes do we care? So I answered what percent of Republicans do not care when their racism, either gross or subtle, is pointed out.

Jeff Wegerson
The musical "Avenue Q" has a very funny song: (0.00 / 0)
"Everyone's a little bit racist... sometimes"

"We are the change we have been waiting for" --Barack Obama reminding us we have to hold him accountable.
[ Parent ]
I said 100% (0.00 / 0)
because I believe everyone has some prejudice in their heart.  I don't think it's possible not to.

The difference between liberals and conservatives is that they embrace the hate and we (hopefully) look to broaden our horizons and learn about those who are different and reduce our levels of prejudice.

[ Parent ]
but that wasn't the.. (0.00 / 0)
...question now was it.
[ Parent ]
No, but it's a good place to start. n/t (0.00 / 0)


Jeff Wegerson
[ Parent ]
Not only that (4.00 / 1)
but I would also stipulate that racism in the Republican party is actually fostered at the national level -- look at their influential media people like Bill O'Lielly and Rush Limbaugh.  At the national level, they're totally shocked when they're called on it, because they're so used to framing the conversation in ways that make it perfectly alright in her mind for this woman to say that to a total stranger  -- her leaders have taught her that its her right to be open about it.  They are: why shouldn't she be?  Taking to the streets ....

Whereas in the Democratic Party, by and large, and among Democrats in general, it is not considered in good taste to be openly racist, which sends our own internal racism undercover. its always a struggle to even recognize it.    

Odd (0.00 / 0)
I'm reprinting this in its entirety from Boing Boing:

     The Canadian National Post looks on with mild horror as American linguists report on the growing trend in the American south to use "Canadian" as a masking euphemism for black people, so that white racists can say socially inappropriate things without tipping listeners off about the cancer in their souls.


Last August, a blogger in Cincinnati going by the name CincyBlurg reported that a black friend from the southeastern U.S. had recently discovered that she was being called a Canadian. "She told me a story of when she was working in a shop in the South and she overheard some of her customers complaining that they were always waited on by a Canadian at that place. She didn't understand what they were talking about and assumed they must be talking about someone else," the blogger wrote.


"After this happened several times with different patrons, she mentioned it to one of her co-workers. He told her that 'Canadian' was the new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using to describe persons they would have previously referred to [with the N-word.]"


A similar case in Kansas City was reported last year on a Listserv, or electronic mailing list, used by linguistics experts. A University of Kansas linguist said that a waitress friend reported that "fellow workers used to use a name for inner-city families that were known to not leave a tip: Canadians. 'Hey, we have a table of Canadians.... They're all yours.' "

Link

Jeff Wegerson

proof of the southern strategy working (0.00 / 0)
check out the wiki for philadelphia, mississippi.  this is why it troubles me so for Obama to bring up Reagan the way he did.

William J Maggos
Obama (4.00 / 1)
pointed out that Reagan and the Republicans had the ideas for a long time: its essentially the same argument that Markos and Jerome made in Crashing the Gate.  Democrats became a reactive party, not a party of ideas.  Obama did not say that Reagan's ideas were good ones: he stressed this morning on This Week that most of Reagan's ideas have been proven disastrously wrong, and he was working in the neighborhoods in Chicago when Reagan was in office and seeing the horrible effects of those policies first hand.  I think you started seeing some ideas in the Democratic Party happening with Paul Wellstone and Al Gore and Howard Dean and ... I could go on.  But my perception is that progressive activists have long been frustrated at the inability of our politicians to articulate the ideas behind our policies: and I don't fault Obama for pointing that out.  Bill Clinton as President was the master of appropriating Republican language -- to some good, and more frustration, in many cases.  
[ Parent ]
I shouldn't say this (0.00 / 0)
but we have racists among the Democrats as well.  I remember back in 1992 when Mosey-Braun was running for the Senate (she beat Dixon in the primary).  Some door to door worker ran into a D who said "I've voted Democrat for my whole life, but I just can't pull for a nigger."  The worker said "but you could vote "straight ticket" to which he replied:  "ok that works!".

Sigh..

On this note: (0.00 / 0)
read about someone's plane flight.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

Incidentally (4.00 / 1)
Did anyone else notice that a majority of South Carolina whites under 30 voted for Obama?

Bill Thomasson

Permission to reprint explicitly granted
Yes. I thought that was the most telling statistic (0.00 / 0)
to come out of Obama's pasting of Hillary there. I hope it does not get lost in the media narrative!

"We are the change we have been waiting for" --Barack Obama reminding us we have to hold him accountable.
[ Parent ]
Canvassing Story | 16 comments
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