A Funny Feeling

Today at work I read an article on MSNBC.com about Encountering racism on the campaign trail by Obama supporters. It mainly focuses on the Clinton strongholds of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia and some of the racist, ignorant, and misinformed beliefs of some voters in those states. The article was really upsetting to me in the sense that although I knew that racism was still festering in this country, in Kansas and Nebraska (where I’m from) I really don’t ever encounter any statements like those found in the article. Here’s a sampling:

“He’s a half-breed and he’s a Muslim. How can you trust that?”

“Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don’t know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can’t convince me that some of that didn’t rub off on him.

“No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office.” (and the person that said this was an actual MAYOR of a town in Pennsylvania)

There’s more stories of racism, including graffiti about Jeremiah Wright, bombs at campaign offices, nasty words yelled at rallies, and much more. The article itself is an interesting read, especially in light of Clinton’s huge West Virginia win and her assertion last week that hard working white people vote for her, and they are the only voters that will matter in the fall election. (I’m paraphrasing, but whatever.)

What a strange country we live in.