White Voters of a Different Color

When I first met my mother I was a few months from being five years old. Before I could call out "mummi," and show her that I recognized her, prove to her that the son who she left behind in Haiti four years earlier was still hers, one of my aunts shouted out in Kreyol "here's the white woman." It had never occurred to me that my mother was white, but as we spent those first two weeks together in 1981 getting reacquainted before she brought me to the United States, I gradually realized her whiteness. The first sign was this pair of mocha brown sunglasses set in oversized plastic frames that she wore and which everyone ogled. She must be white if she were wearing sunglasses because everyone else I knew in Haiti simply squinted, or used their hands as a makeshift visor to shield the sun from their eyes. Another distinguishing feature of my mother's whiteness that caught my eye early on was her hair; it was longer and straighter than mine. While mine was a nappy mess inciting a daily battle between me and the aunts who dared try combing it, Mom's reached her shoulders and bounced as she made the rounds of Petion Ville saying hello to friends and family members. At every house we went to people alternated between asking me whether I remembered my mother, to complimenting mom on her hair. They delicately stroked her tresses with the same gentle coaxing that only a few short days were reserved for helping me overcome the pain of bruises obtained from falls in my grandparents' yard. Years later, when I made my first trip back to Haiti with my father, I discovered that he too is white -- which gave birth to a sneaking suspicion that I too may be white.

In the United States my parents whiteness is fleeting, quickly undone whenever a relative or family friend arriving from Haiti lays eyes on their New York apartment and discovers that they have not walked into one of the mansions featured on TV shows Dallas or Dynasty, but rather a modest abode ingeniously reconfigured to fit a family of four. These encounters have helped make my parents' whiteness more muted, which has been very helpful in my attempts at accenting my own life with shades of blackness.

Until recently my parents' whiteness had become an afterthought. But the more I read about Hillary Clinton's popularity amongst white working class voters, and how Barack Obama will eventually need to win over these voters, I gradually realized that they were talking about my parents. Like many of their white working class peers who are strong supporters of Hillary Clinton, my parents barely make over 40K, they've never purchased a latte, and neither of them went to college. They believe that Hillary Clinton has the experience to turn this country around - -a belief that is more rooted in their faith in her husband, than it is in her own talents. My parents don't trust either Hillary or Bill Clinton as far as they could throw them, which is precisely why they think the Clinton's are better equipped to be President.

The presence of my brown skin parents in the white working class voter demographic indicates how vexing it must be for pundits trying to figure out this bloc of voters. In New Mexico and Texas, white working class voters were masked as Latinos. In California, they were masked as Asian Americans and Latinos. Before Obama became black enough, the black vote doubled as the elusive white working class vote. Arguably the most peculiar incident in this Kabuki drama was how in Ohio and Pennsylvania they were presented as beer drinkers.

The Democratic Party's constituency has been racially disaggregated during this prolonged primary process, yet as this process comes to an end, the presumptive votes that matter most, are white working class votes. In his blog post from Monday, Jeff Chang writes of the impending "Asian American Problem" for this year's presidential candidates, "

One of the main reasons this presidential election has been historic is that every imaginable demographic has been in play...But Asian Americans still get no love."

Similarly, articles written featuring Latino voters after the Texas primaries are sparse, and in spite of the fact that many Latinos have been in the United States longer than most other Americans, immigration is routinely brought forth as a discussion topic. Rarely do you find Latino voters being prompted to speak on issues such as housing and job discrimination, or better yet, social security.

In spite of the fact that my father regularly enjoys a cold one, I suspect that my attempt at casting my parents as white working class voters will not get further than this post. Like many people of color, my parents were not part of the vaunted class of Reagan Democrats who shifted allegiances in 1980, in fact as permanent residents they couldn't even vote in 1980 -- therefore they can only be who they are and hopefully a candidate will emerge who can address the issues that concern them. I suspect that many of the white working class voters receiving so much attention right now have trouble believing in their own whiteness in the eyes of politicians--and by that I mean trouble believe they are really wanted -- tolerated, sure -- needed, maybe -- but not necessarily wanted. Therefore, as this primary contest draws to a close the historic campaign that was to change the world risks becoming another election year taxi dance where we all pay our dimes to dance with candidates when they roar into our towns, only to wake up alone again the next morning.

Comments

[gillyrosh]

"Therefore, as this primary contest draws to a close the historic campaign that was to change the world risks becoming another election year taxi dance where we all pay our dimes to dance with candidates when they roar into our towns, only to wake up alone again the next morning."

Well said, but I never thought this election would be anything but a series of midnight promises from politicians trying to get my vote.

[Jalylah]

I think it would be useful for you to expand on how folks of color, particularly Black folk, in the Caribbean and Africa, regard their country men and women who have immigrated to the U.S.A. and Europe upon their return home, even how they perceive African Americans. I think that could lead into further teasing out what you mean in this piece when you invoke and cite others invocations of white in description of phenotypically Black people. It seems as if whiteness doesn't so much connote race but social station and culture or maybe just Westerness. It's a shorthand for something as blackness and whiteness can't exist as they do here since the majority of folks are Black there. Anyway, you raise some interesting points.

[Benton]

The African American / Caribbean distinctions disappear incredibly fast.

[Ferentz]

Yes, I am hinting at a correlation between whiteness and westerness. There are "white" people in Haiti, and there are also those returning from abroad who are also called "white," which most Americans might understand as "gringo." The difference between the United States and Haiti is that in Haiti it's acknowledged that these two forms of whiteness co-exist, and that the markers of the latter are always evolving. Everything from my less than perfect Kreyol to my unfamiliarity with Haiti's different neighborhoods reminds my relatives that I grew up elsewhere, and there are moments when I overcompensate and try to show everyone that I am just as Haitian as they are, but we all know that this is a pointless effort. In some ways, when black folk travel to Africa and the Caribbean, we can end up behaving like politicians, eager to show our brethren and sistren in the "motherland" that we are down, but we are only playing ourselves in thinking that no one sees through this act. Which as I think the piece suggests race is played out differently in different places.

[ghostwriter5]

Thanks for presenting another point of view. People make choices for all kinds of reasons, but most posters here think that racism drives all choices. Looking down on the uneducated, which is another favorite here, is both dispicable and politically unwise. About 1/3 of americans graduate from college-actually it might even be less--so to win elections you have to appeal to the electorate. Don't tell me Obama hasn't been trying to win that part of the country--he just isn't very good at it.

[Ferentz]

Obama's dilemma is that he wants to say that he's different from other politicians, but similar to other Americans. Most Americans might say, he's just like other politicians, but he's different from us. Until there's a better balance between these two conceptions he will have to work harder than Clinton and McCain in his pitches to working class voters. We wrestle with class in this country because so many people see themselves as people a lottery ticket away from being super-rich, therefore, notions of middle-and-working-class evolve in peculiar ways, and we have become so attuned to the rags to riches story, that for some it's the only story that matters.

[londongal]

"My parents don't trust either Hillary or Bill Clinton as far as they could throw them, which is precisely why they think the Clinton's are better equipped to be President."

What the hell does that statement mean?

[walk0nwalls]

I read it as: they are cynical. Lies deception and thievery is business per usual in politics and the Clintons are the best.

It's a little harsh but I think a lot of us can agree with that.

[w8aminute]

Well, if one is yearning for 'experience' (which the Clinton's use as their main argument), where could you find a better example than the current administration that no one could possibly trust?
Ok, maybe my explanation wasn't exactly the best wording either. Sorry.

[Ferentz]

The Clintons came along at a particular historical moment for my parents. Their rise corresponds with Jean Bertrand Aristides, and I believe my parents saw Bill Clinton and Aristide as embodiments of new turns in the US and Haiti respectively. However both men became mired in scandals and Aristide received the ouster that if Gingrich and his allies had their way would have befallen Clinton. Clinton's ability to survive (and this goes for Hillary as well) is seen partly as their resilience and also as a unique ability to navigate the world of politics, a world where the "trust" is always up for debate.

Put another away, after sixteen years together, they have faith in the Clintons' abilities, but they wouldn't trust them--kind of like a woman who stays in a marriage with a tomcat--you can have faith that he will provide for his family--but do not trust him when he says he's not cheating.

[AllaboutME]

Well Done

[BARRISTER]

Hmmmm; and what about the West Indian American Voting Block??? There are millions and millions of them there!!!!