Road rage
- 12 Oct 08, 03:43 AM GMT
AKRON, OH: Rows of shiny, all-American automobiles glimmered in the sun. I marvelled as their owners diligently polished all these lovingly-preserved Chevys, Fords and Plymouths.
They'd picked a glorious October morning for this classic car fair. But I couldn't help thinking there was something poignant about celebrating America's industrial past here, right in the heart of the rust belt.
Now, I'm no petrolhead. It took me three attempts to pass my driving test. I couldn't tell you the difference between a crankshaft and a fender. But even I could appreciate that these were beautiful vehicles - all gleaming chrome and rolling contours.
Back when most of them were built, Akron was known as the rubber capital of the world. The bulk America's tyres were manufactured here by firms like Goodyear and Firestone, and the city's blue-collar workers enjoyed a boomtime of high wages and steady employment.
But by the 1980s, production had started shifting elsewhere. The city experienced the same hardships of post-industrial decline as other Midwest cities like Detroit and Cleveland - soaring unemployment, rising crime, urban decay.
Akron's chamber of commerce can boast, with some justification, that the city has since bounced back by diversifying its economy. But the empty warehouses I passed on the outskirts were testament to the hardships local people have experienced.
It would be easy to feel forgotten in a place like this, but winning the support of Akron will be absolutely crucial to America's presidential candidates. Ohio is, of course, a vital state, credited with securing George Bush's presidency in 2004.
And although Akron itself has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, Barack Obama may have to work harder than usual to win over its voters. Hillary Clinton trounced him in the state primary back in March, and questions have been raised about whether he can keep her white, working-class supporters onside.
Hence my decision to visit the car show. I knew I'd find some Hillary fans here, and I wanted to ask whether they would stay loyal to the Democrats come November.
Sure enough, I got talking to Pam Mazzola, 54, as she waxed her 1970 Plymouth Hemi Barracuda. Pam and her husband Joe had bought the automobile 35 years ago before driving off to get married.
Now, however, she was nervous; on the verge of retirement, she wondered what the chaos on Wall Street would mean for a place like Akron.
Pam had enthusiastically backed Hillary in the primaries - both out of admiraton for the New York senator's common touch, and respect for her husband's achievements as president. She had no hesitation, however, in backing Obama for president.
"I like Hillary a lot," Pam said. "She understands what things are like for people round here.
"But we need change. I think McCain is too close to Bush. I don't agree with his policies. I'm going for Obama."
Sitting in front of a 1920s Ford Roadster, however, was 72-year-old retired engineer Ed Bogovich. He'd come through from Pennsylvania - another blue-collar swing state - to attend the show.
Ed had backed Hillary, too. But there was no way he would support Obama; no way he would support any black man for the presidency.
"I don't want him to be my leader," Ed barked. "I am a staunch Democrat, but I will not vote for a negro.
"If his grandfather is a Muslim, wouldn't be one too?"
It was shocking to listen to all this. But it was no use correcting Ed that Senator Obama was, in fact, a Christian.
"Come on, don't tell me that," he replied. "It's in his heritage."
I shook my head as I walked away. I've met enough Americans these past few weeks to know that views like his are in the minority. I'm sure most former Democrats who've gone over to McCain reject them, too.
But it was depressing, all the same.
I remembered what I'd been told earlier by Akron's mayor, Don Plusquellic. He had also backed Hillary in March, but was now voting for Obama.
Jennifer spoke to him too:
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He told me that race was no longer an issue for the majority of his compatriots, Republican and Democrat alike.
"There are always going to be people who have a problem," he frowned. "But most of us - we've got over that."
Mayor Plusquellic said he was confident that most Democrats in Ohio would vote the same way as him. There was genuine anger here at the Republican White House, he added.
November will tell us if he was right. But whoever wins, I'm sure most Americans will hope attitudes like Ed's belong to a dying era.
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Hello, I’m Jon Kelly and this is my blog. I’m on the BBC election bus, travelling across the US asking where Americans want their country to go.
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Comments
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I listened to your interview ( on kera.org) with that Blogovich fella and your initial attempts to rebut his assertions that obama was an "arab" and muslim by heritage. My point is that this is far from isolated. Within the past week, at both PA and Ohio rallies, there have been chants of 'Kill him' and "Terrorist" in response to Mccain & Palins' riling rhetoric about Obama's tangential ties to the one-time radical Bill Ayers. Extremely worrying, secret service protection, or not.
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I listened to your interview ( here on Dallas public radio) with that Blogovich fella and your initial attempts to rebut his assertions that obama was an "arab" and muslim by heritage. My point is that this is far from isolated. Within the past week, at both PA and Ohio rallies, there have been chants of 'Kill him' and "Terrorist" in response to Mccain & Palins' riling rhetoric about Obama's tangential ties to the one-time radical Bill Ayers. Extremely worrying, secret service protection, or not.
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Ed's views are in the minority, and not deserving of your time and attention.
Those who voted for Hillary, and won't vote for BHO, are not racists. They do not trust this man, and have a long list of reasons, if you will review your notes from your journey.
A career launched in the Chicago political machine does not create trust. Twenty years hanging with Reverend Wright really raises questions about the flavor of Christianity BHO embraces. (He's not Muslim, folks, get over yourselves, but his Christianity is of a pretty unique and unhistorical variety.)
The guys with the MBA's and JD's from Harvard and Yale created this horrible economic mess in great part. Graduation near the bottom of the Naval Academy class, and years of landing planes on ships counts for more with many people.
Sorry you ran into Ed, and hope you don't let him discourage you about us. I can't call him the name he deserves and get past moderation, since this is a civilized forum.
I would if I could, though!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Race is the "biggest" issue in America, just INTERVIEW Obama supporters--I DARE you to publish their comments. I hear them everyday here! They "want" a racial based payback of some kind. Your publishing the same old, back handed, antiWhite tripe--- racism is a double edged sword. Your report is just taking sides, and full of sterotyping attitudes. Obama is not just disliked, he is FEARED. IF race is so unimportant, why has it been the most mentioned issue of the campaign and on everyone's mind?
People are also filled with anxiety because we believe if Obama loses there will be riots. Like it or not, race has to be a huge issue in the USA, and the ones trying to push race the hardest are the same ones saying "it doesn't matter"!
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What's shocking is the complete and utter failure to condemn African-American voters for their racism by voting for Obama solely because he is black!
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I disagree with the comment on here suggesting that most white Americans are racist. You will find racism among any ethnic and racial group, and it is by no means unique to the USA. There are plenty of racist skin heads in the UK and the belief that people inherit religious believes like they are genes, is not a common belief amongst the American people. If most Americans really were racist, then I doubt that Obama would be leading in national polls or that he would have won in a state like Iowa which has a mostly white population.
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There are plenty of racist skin heads in the UK
----
There are plenty of racists in the UK, but they tend not to have skinheads anymore - they prefer to look "civilised" these days.
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Jon - really like your blog. Being an Indian who has lived in the USA for over 13 years, I do see undertones of racism all around me. I see these mostly amongst the uneducated (never confuse literacy with education) . I even sadly admit to having "educated" friends who think they should have a White-friendly organization, since every other race seems to have one. There may be some signs of alarm in that, but I wonder if we will ever learn to ignore our skin color, as a species. I hope we do. This is one area where mankind ought to be color blind. People like Ed are merely being honest and forthright about their feelings. These feelings exist in many more people who are hypocritical about their feelings, and do not express them. The more the pity - since they are being true to themselves. And that does not bode well for a color blind world.
I do believe that Obama is seen as a person who inspires though, leading to the term "Obama-can": A republican who will vote for Obama.
We are seeing the prospect of a "black" man holding the highest office in the land. For a nation that has seen racism and hatred be at the forefront of its history in the same century, this is a turning point. Like every turning point, there will be turbulence, and discomfort - this is to be expected. We should be proud that we get to be a part of something historic. I'm sure every generation has moments like this.
I did notice one curious thing in your pictures though - how come the BBC crew on this trip is mostly white? Just curious...
Peace.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
People should be filled with anxiety whether or not Obama wins. Just look what happened in Dallas in 1993 when the Cowboys won the Superbowl. I can picture the same happening in major urban cities across America if Obama is elected. nov-4 and nov-5 will be good days to call in sick to work.
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Hmmm,
It's rather disturbing to note that Mr. Bogovich used the "n" word.
It's even more disturbing, because Mr. Bogovich himself (or his decendants) come from the same town in Croatia as I do.
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There are plenty of racists in both countries, and most americans are not racist.
But strangely not all but most of the people that support mc Cain are whittled down to the racist and stubborn and mortally challenged .
But at least if either Palin , Mc Cain , or hillary who started this baiting, were at that in the UK they could probably be charged with hate speech.
But hey freedom of speech is important right. how else do you return america to the racial conflict and the cold war.
Through crap words
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I disagree that race is the biggest issue in the States. Intolerance is the biggest issue. Americans have become intolerant of anyone whom they perceive to be different -- whether due to race, religion, culture, interests, education -- you name it. From my personal observations, people who are more educated are mistrusted and thought of as elitists who should talk and behave just as does everyone else (excuse me, but what's the point of getting an education if you must then pretend you don't have it so that uneducated people don't have to be confronted with their own failures?) People who enjoy culture are seen as snobs who want to be better than everyone else. Anyone who chooses not to be Christian (and many people here think this includes Catholics, the Church from which their own denominations arose) is seen as evil and a threat to their own purity. Those who disagree with current government policies are seen as traitors until the majority reach the same conclusion (at which point the slurs are 'forgotten' by those who made them). People of different races are often assumed to be 'not as highly evolved' as white Anglo-Saxon Protestants -- and yes, this include anyone who doesn't look WASP. In the South, outspoken women are considered "uppity" and even other women think they should be put in their places...
I am an American, and I grew up believing our country was just. It is not. It is rife with hypocrisy. But paradoxically, it is also a land of idealists and optimists who want to become shining examples of what is right and good. The problem is this: who are our role models? Who is defining what is 'right and good'? Because believe me, intolerant people think they are being discerning. They don't think they are being hateful, and when they force their agendas on others they really think they are 'helping' them. Why? Because that's what they've been taught.
We haven't been taught real history or had a free press in America for many, many years. But few people here know that because few people here spend any considerable time abroad. People here still believe that ours is the highest standard of living in the world, that we have the best health care on the planet, etc. etc. etc. Why? Because that's what they've been taught and they've never seen any proof to contradict it. I have... and that's when I started asking questions about what I'd been taught.
I never thought Americans were taught propaganda about others countries. Only other countries did that... until I went abroad and found that a lot of the people I was taught to fear were gentle, hospitable, and more open to new ideas than I was.
Americans need a reality check, but who is going to give it to them? Not the terrorists. They are only helping to convince people that what the government and churches are telling them is true. Who then?...
Americans need to start thinking for themselves again. They need to be willing to ask questions, go out and see for themselves what's happening. They need to stop being smug and see things as they are, instead of in whatever way will ask the least of them. They need to take back responsibility for the consequences of their own actions and act like adults, instead of asking to be saved from suffering the consequences of our own mistakes.
In short, we need to go back to being the Great Nation we want to be, person by person, instead of letting ourselves be flattered every election season and treated like retarded children by our elected officials the rest of the time. Someone else is not going to make our country "great". Someone else cannot make us tolerant, or generous, or compassionate, or courageous, or wise. That happens in each person's heart through each person's own efforts-- or not at all.
America can be great... but it is not great at present. It is a nation in shadow. There are signs that this shadow might be lifting. That people may be starting to become aware of it, which is the first step towards change... but it is only the first step. We can't simply retreat and complain to others. We have to each do something ourselves -- we have to be the change we want. There have been times when Americans have done that. I hope this is one of those times.
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5. At 10:17am on 12 Oct 2008, rwbennett wrote:
A pile of racist drivel.
Obama is not just disliked, he is FEARED.
He is feared by people who cannot figure out how many toes they have.
The same people that some how are not afraid of some barking Barbie that will FOR SURE start a war with her Ignorance.
Someone the whole world sees as scary but then you're a racist so that's how it works right?
You are afraid of riots.
have you seen your good old boy White supporters shouting KILL HIM.
How many Obama supporters have been shouting KILL HER or
KILL MC CRIMINALYINSANE.
Wow good to see the racist still alive and well.
It will make my desision on who's side to take easy, and it's not yours.
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11 Don in Oregon.
As a fellow oregonian(now) I find the Irony and humour great.
shame so many will think you are being serious.
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15. At 3:40pm on 12 Oct 2008, Morgaine_VLB wrote:
A great letter.
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As usual, the liberalistic BBC moderators cannot manage to publish fact.
I write that anti-white racism is the staple of race politics in America. It is particularly apparent in affirmative action - one FACTUAL aspect of which is college preference for blacks of IQ in the low nineties above white with IQ's about 15 points higher.
This is morally wrong. It is also morally wrong for the BBC moderators to remove reference to it.
If Obama is elected there will be much more anti-racism from the givernment machine. Why, then, would any white (meaning an American of European descent, not a Jew, Turk, Iraqi or other racial minority dofficially described as white) vore against his or her own interests?
This is the great mystery of politics in the European world. Why are we voting for policies which guarantee our own disadvantage - and even, over the passage of time, our demographic race-replacement?
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Jon, I can sum all this up easily. Neither candidate is great nor up to the job. No matter what, we are heading for the unknown.
I just want this insane election to be over with. I will live my life however I have to.
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"I did notice one curious thing in your pictures though - how come the BBC crew on this trip is mostly white? Just curious..."
perhaps because most people in the UK are white so of course most employees in most organisatiosn will be white. Oddly they'll probably speak English as their first language and may even be born of white parents. Not that any of that matters to a non-racist.
Why did you bring it up again?
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Please, let me say this as clearly as possible. There is no moral equivalence between blacks voting for Barack Obama and racism. The only way that it could be construed as Racist is if Barack Obama is a republican. The simple, very simple, truth is that blacks vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. It doesn't matter if they are black, blue, white, brown, purple, alien. If they are a democrat in good standing they vote for that democrat. I know that some may find this incredulous but Al Gore got more of the black vote than Obama is polling at the moment. By the incredible logic of Dhimmi blacks are racist against blacks...
Again, lets take pause. The election of Barack Obama doesn't mean the end of racism, and if he loses it doesn't mean that racism is rife in America. I am a black American. I understand the frustrating and complex racial tableaux of the states. Bigotry is truly a blind concept that can be self sustaining if allowed to flame.
Americans aren't electing Obama because he is black. They are electing him because he is a mainstream guy that is not part of the party machine in Washington. He asked us to judge him on his judgments on key issues, and in this respect he has trumped his more experienced opponents; Hilary, and now McCain. The false canard that Palin has more experience than Obama is laughable. Obama may be a RELATIVE political neophyte but he is not an idiot. He has exceeded his modest beginnings through his intellect. He was a professor of Constitutional law for many years. He is a man of the people; not just black people, white people, or hunters. He is running to serve his country, not as reward for a debt owed, or the blinding ambition to outrank his father.
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The only McCain supporter Jon Kelly could find was a 76 year old racist, probably with a contrived quote to hammer home BBC's point. That puts the Telegraph's assertions of BBC institutional bias to rest.
Vnomad's apocrypha is laughable.
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#7 Dhimmi
Has it occurred to you that Blacks have had a choice between two white men in every Presidential election since they gained the vote. Given that reality, a certain amount a bias towards the first credible black candidate is understandable.
Remember that every black who has ever voted for a president has voted for a white guy. The white guy in the article said he would never vote for a black man.
There's a difference between these two positions.
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#19 Guessedworker said:
"If Obama is elected there will be much more anti-racism from the givernment machine. Why, then, would any white (meaning an American of European descent, not a Jew, Turk, Iraqi or other racial minority dofficially described as white) vore against his or her own interests?
This is the great mystery of politics in the European world. Why are we voting for policies which guarantee our own disadvantage - and even, over the passage of time, our demographic race-replacement? "
Well - maybe I would be voting in the interests of my descendants, because maybe my descendants will be black. Maybe yours will be too. Would that be a problem?
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Americans are no more racist than any European country. Its very elitist and downright rude when europeans constantly attack us.
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#4 aphexrephlex:
It doesn't sound like you made a great deal of effort to stay away from American racists. I wonder what part of California you were in and what crowd you ran with. And I wonder how "racist" these people really were.
Perhaps you are grouping even ethnic jokes as being "racist." Perhaps they are, but if so, then there is a huge spectrum in the degrees of racism. I would suspect that most white Obama supporters have told an ethnic joke or two in their lifetimes, myself included.
Racist against Germans and French? Sounds like something the English could identify with, except that using the word "racist" would be ludicrous in most situations. America is the land of the Polish joke, the Italian joke, the black joke, the Asian joke, the Jewish joke, etc. And blacks, Italians, Jews, Asians, etc. all have more or less the same jokes about each other, give or take here and there. Open American "racism" these days most commonly exists in crass, tasteless, stupid race jokes in the lunchrooms of machine shops or in the TV rooms of college fraternities. Not something Americans should really be proud of or really so ashamed of in the overall scheme of things. Race, ethnic and religious jokes are hardly uniquely American.
But what this man said in Akron is different. He openly said he would not vote for a "negro." In his defense, "negro" at one time was not considered a racial slur since it once was an acceptable term for African Americans. Bob Dylan uses the word "negro" in the song "A Pawn in their Game." 40 years ago America was grappling with the "negro issue." It was the acceptable term up until the late 60s or so. It's not the same as using that other n-word, not even close. It's not even as bad as "colored." This guy in Akron is an older guy and perhaps used the term to provoke, but just as easily could have that learned to use that term as a kid when it was acceptable and just stuck with it. What's more or less shocking in his case is that he openly said he would not vote for a black man. His racism is a bit shocking, but his openness is what makes him stand out.
It's pretty obvious that this particular race discussion is pretty blown out of proportion when the BBC bus made it all the way from California to Ohio before they found a man who would openly (and honestly) proclaim race is the reason he would not vote for Obama. That he would say this so openly is pretty unusual among white Americans these days. Racism exists far more in people who are not open to talk about it. We could have had this discussion along time ago before some guy rather uncommonly tells an international news service he won't vote for a black man.
And it's pretty old school to find a Democrat, especially, who would openly say he would not vote for a black man. This is a different kind of democrat, the kind we're not used to seeing anymore, back when the Democratic party was the dominant party of the working man -- progressive and well as reactionary -- in the South and most of the rest of the country.
Aphexrephlex's notion of 49% of white Americans being racist sounds like some kind of amusing European fantasy. It's such an arbitrary number. Even if 50.1% of white Americans were racist, Obama could still win the election if he captured all of the votes from blacks, latinos and Asians. How many Asians or latinos will not vote for a "negro?" Some, I am sure. Conversely, even if only .001% of white Americans were racist, Obama could still easily lose the election if Americans simply voted along the traditional party lines when a non-Southern democrat runs for president. No Democrat from outside the South has become president since Kennedy. And even Kennedy barely won. If Obama wins, he would be the first in nearly 50 years. The fact that he is leading in the polls (he was leading even before the financial and stock market collapse, though not by as much) speaks volumes to how much race relations have changed in this country.
Moreover, Americans have no reason to believe that Europeans are less racist than Americans. The reverse may very well be true. Where did American racism come from? It didn't begin in the U.S. It traveled here from Europe and it has hardly been eliminated from Europe. Europeans just perhaps are not as crass as we are and perhaps don't speak as openly about these things. Until there is a European Bobby Jindal, Dick Parsons, Condoleeza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Douglas Wilder and Barack Obama, Americans will shrug off European notions that we are somehow more racist than they are.
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"...The simple, very simple, truth is that blacks vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. It doesn't matter if they are black, blue, white, brown, purple, alien. If they are a democrat in good standing they vote for that democrat..."
I've always thought it strange. It was the Republicans who set them free, you know.
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I am atheist, my parents are Quaker, my grandparents (to the best of my knowledge) were/are Catholics and Protestants respectively. The fact that people like this 'Ed' will be voting fills me with a great deal of disillusionment for the voting system. I think things like this make it clear that intelligent, fair people generally do not vote, if those people even exist.
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It's really sad that there's still so much prejudice and hatred in this country. I've heard calls from McCain supporters to 'Kill Obama' and so forth. It makes me sick that people are still so intolerant after so many people worked so hard to change things. And it doesn't help that these people are passing on their toxic ideas to their children and grandchildren.
I actually have one friend who broke off his friendship with someone because she's from Alabama and kept sending him racist emails about Obama. My friend is married to a woman who is black/hispanic& Cherokee.
And I have a friend whose wife, an Italian, keeps sending me racist emails about Obama. Come on people, it's the 21st century for crying out loud! Knock it off already!
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#29 nc
"I've always thought it strange. It was the Republicans who set them free, you know."
Today's Republicans are not the same thing as Lincoln's Republicans. Today's Republicans are descended, partly, from Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrats.
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They have those car shows all summer long, too. Not just on autumn mornings. Sometimes people take their old vehicles for a drive on the main strip, and people bring their tanning lotion and umbrellas and sit there, soaking in the rays and car fumes and wave as the folks drive by in antique Fords and Buicks. It's just one more exiting thing to do in Ohio . . .
If you do that, it's best to avoid political talk. As you can see by the comments posted already. Best to figure out ways to admire the cars . . . Or talk about the weather, the Farmer's Almanac predictions for winter--how all those ants crawling around the sidewalk mean it's going to be a long one.
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Obama could only loose the election if at the last minute, in the polling booth, most Americans get the "Ed" disease. What a shame that would be.
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Racism, shmacism- lighten up already!
I'd like to put it into perspective: when Democratic candidate was a young child there were schools in America that he could not attend, simply for the color of his skin. The most powerful person in the world is an African-American woman from Birmingham AL. She was preceded by another African-American who grew up in abject poverty. The Republican contender spent time as a prisoner of war in conditions so dire, beaten and tortured within an inch of his life- the only thing he had to hold on to was hope.
Each one of these people aren't from the background of the politcal elite we have become accustomed to.
If you travelled back to the 1950's and told the 'average man on the street' any of this he would have thought you mad.
Hearts and minds have changed along with the times.
What a great time to be a voter in America.
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"There are plenty of racists in both countries, and most americans are not racist.
But strangely not all but most of the people that support mc Cain are whittled down to the racist and stubborn and mortally challenged ."
I presume you mean morally challenged? At least unless you're suggesting that voting Obama lets you cheat death?
What I find really hilarious is that (counting on my fingers) you reckon the 100 million-odd people who will vote McCain are all racists. Don't you think that this rather sweeping statement is itself racist?
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To: # 29
Odd, isn't it? Now it's the GOP and the Republicans who are trying to enslave, not only them, but the entire world. Have you notice NAFTA where half of populations of Canada, the USA and Mexico are now almost working for slave wages?
It the all an age-old simple case of "if fools don't learn from History, they will repeat it!"
We now have the largest concentrated group of young Americans in jail, prisons. They are mostly young black and Hispanics. They are the next generations slave market. After all, Corporate America and it's corporate bought USA House and Senate are "banking" on it.
And the McCain/Palin ticket will make sure of that.
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I’m American, 24yrs old, and I can say for certain there is a bright line divergence in opinion on race in my generation, compared to the older generation. Because we never grew up with government sponsored racism, for the vast majority of us, the concept is from the dark ages. The sooner old geezers like this dude kick the bucket, the better off America will be. Sure, we are aware of the stereotypes and cultural differences, but my generation knows that race has no bearing on a person’s ability, potential, or competence. (Some) Old people are messed up!
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"What's shocking is the complete and utter failure to condemn African-American voters for their racism by voting for Obama solely because he is black!"
Actually I would say not. After all it would make for the first black American president. Once it has happened a few times, then the novelty would wear off.
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