|
That Clinton had an enormous numerical advantage over her
opponent in terms of paid and volunteer field staff cannot
be disputed. Yet, street level conversations suggest that
the supposed superiority of these ground resources may have
been eviscerated by Hillary’s blindness to how the
intersection of race and white privilege complicates
political support of white women and/or white working class
individuals.
The following is part one of a front line account from a
Clinton organizer on ground organizing in Toledo. Her
experience articulates how the complexities surrounding race
and working or middle class white women and men may have
caused Hillary Clinton to overestimate her political support
in places such as Toledo.
“Well, it’s the first time
I ever worked on a political campaign, but the reason I
jumped on this opportunity was because I was not yet
convinced that our country was ready for a female president,
and I wanted to put everything I had behind Clinton just to
know that I did everything I could to help make it happen.
Being part of a team and working together toward something
bigger than yourself is an unbelievable feeling, and I did
believe we were going to win.
“I knocked on a lot of
doors where I thought sexism was aimed right at me. I knew
what we were up against, but I felt like in Lucas County we
would win. We felt like we had to win by 100,000 votes like
we did for Obama in order to turn Ohio blue. With Clinton,
though, we only were able to win by 33,000, but it was still
very good to be part of a blue effort for the county and I’m
just left feeling like sexism and racism won in parts of our
country. It certainly shows that we still have a lot of work
to do.
“I’ve already heard of
two women of color in Toledo that have been brutally
attacked verbally by white men who have decided they don’t
belong in this country anymore. I mean, that is (expletive)
up. And I do think he’s (Trump) given permission for
people, for white men in particular, to show that kind of
violence towards women and people of color.
“…. Working in Toledo?
I’m going to be honest, okay? I felt very… and maybe this
is because I grew up in the Bronx in a very working-class
family. There was a huge difference being with the people of
color that were so solidly behind her. I think there were a
lot of African-American folks that stayed home. But I don’t
want in any way to blame the African heritage folks, because
at the same time, when I organized in the white
neighborhoods, I felt so disconnected from the white folks.
“The white men were so
angry with Hillary. Not every man, but more than should’ve
been. And there were women, so many white women that I
knocked on their doors and they didn’t like her either. I
would ask why and try to listen, because I think if you
listen to people, they’ll figure out what they’re staying is
stupid eventually, but they didn’t, they’re not there yet.
“I knocked at five white
women’s doors who said I cannot vote for Hillary because I
don’t believe it’s the place of a female to be president.
Sometimes they would quote the Bible literally. Sometimes
they would nod and just say it’s how I was raised. I would
try and explain my perspective – that it’s not like you
thought this about women when you were born, but you heard
it so, so, so many times that you now believe it, and you
shouldn’t believe it, you should vote for Hillary. And I
never tell anyone who to vote for, but I’m like there’s no
way she will figure out in a week that what she believes is
just b.s.
“…. White men said to me
if I could I’d kill her for killing people in Benghazi. I
was thinking that is really what sexism is …it’s a lot of
things, but there’s always violence or a threat of violence
that comes along with it.
“There was someone out in
Point Place, a woman, one of my volunteers knocked on the
door election day and my volunteer said…the woman said I
didn’t vote yet, I’m waiting for my daughter to come and
pick me up and take me to vote. My volunteer asked ‘can I
drive you?’ And the woman was so excited. So my volunteer
said I’ll be back in around five minutes with my car, and
her husband in the background started screaming at her,
you’re not leaving this house to vote for anybody. And my
whole team tried to move that.
“I tried to send a man
over there, a white man to talk to this man to de-escalate
his feelings so this woman could get to vote. No one could
get into that house again because they refused to answer the
door. They shut off the lights and also wouldn’t answer the
phone. That woman didn’t get to vote, and that is one
example to me of the depth of sexism and it’s…I think it’s
true all over the country, but I think there are different
flavors in different places.”
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
|
