Obama Volunteers Face Uphill Slog in White Rural Kentucky

According to Lexington Democratic Party staffer John Malloy, Magoffin County in eastern Kentucky is the whitest county in the United States, but there's a one-woman Obama campaign being waged there with some success. "It's not about race," says activist and life-long resident Victoria Doucette. "It's about the economy. I think that a lot of the people who supported Hillary Clinton here in the primary will vote for Barack Obama."

Like Sue Koplowitz (see picture below), the London, Kentucky, resident working for Obama in neighboring Laurel County, Victoria has spent her own money - she estimates over $3000 - to buy the yard signs and handouts, buttons and gasoline to promote the man she knew she'd "follow anywhere - one day I knew he'd be President," after hearing his 2004 Democratic Convention speech.

Many in Kentucky are wondering what role race is playing in this campaign. Last Sunday, the headline on Lexington's newspaper the Herald-Leader read, "The Obama question: Will his race matter?" Written by Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Jim Warren, the article tracks the range of opinion held "about what role lingering prejudices will play," but finds no strong trend. A September poll shows that Obama has the support of 31% of white voters here, in contrast to 40% nationwide.

In a companion article, "Let's cast our votes for the right reasons, and rise above racism," Herald-Leader columnist Merlene Davis recalls childhood incidents in Owensboro KY when her brother was called the n-word and she and her siblings had to run for their lives through the playground of the Robert E. Lee Elementary School. At times like this, their mother said, "You can't be as good as those people, Merlene. You have to be better than," also Davis' message for Kentucky voters.

Based on Kentucky's history as a slave-breeding and exporting state, on the fence during the Civil War and with strong feelings lingering today, there is good reason to consider the role of racism in politics and everyday life. Magoffin, Laurel and neighboring Whitley County are documented in Elliot Jaspin's book Buried in the Bitter Water: The hidden history of racial cleansing in America (2007) as places where, from one census count to the next, local black population dropped from small but substantial to almost nothing. Research revealed that white mobs and terror campaigns were mounted to force black populations to depart, rousted from their homes, leaving land and property behind in their flight.

That's what happened on October 30, 1919 in Corbin Kentucky, a small railroad town on the border between Laurel and Whitley counties. In a riveting chapter titled "A dog named n***er," Jaspin used oral and written histories, sworn affidavits and newspaper archives to recreate that night when a "crowd of 125 gun-toting men" went house to house in a frenzy of looting and robbery, driving all black residents and railroad camp workers to the depot, where they were placed on any train passing through and forcibly deported from the only home many had ever known. Pressed into the mob, the high school marching band passed the depot in the dark, and one band member "saw a strange sight. It 'was full of colored people...I don't know where they had come from. They were from everywhere, some of them even in night clothes.'"

Today that depot sits in the late-October sun, handsomely restored and in use as Corbin's Economic Development Agency. Up the street is the original Sanders Café and Museum, home to the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant opened by Colonel Harland Sanders and wife. A tour of the town's small neat neighborhoods reveals clusters of campaign signs supporting local candidates, and one each for McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden. But you won't see many black people, except for those passing through. "If you see a group of black people here, you can't help it - you stare," said Duke Hopper, a local resident who came to the area from Illinois.

Sitting with Hopper over a lunch of the Colonel's finest, Sue Koplowitz said that in six years of working at two area newspapers in Corbin, a total of five black people had ever visited her offices. Duke's estimate was six, in the years he has lived locally. Twenty miles north in Rockcastle County, community activist Deb Bledsoe reported the same number over a period of ten or more years, saying that Rockcastle is still regarded by blacks as a "sundowner" county - if you want to be safe, better be out of the county before the sun goes down. The Southern Poverty Law Center provides a "Hate Group Map" for Kentucky and nationwide and displays several Nazi and Klan groups in this area, with a lot more in nearby Tennessee.

Neither Koplowitz nor Hopper thinks that outright racism is still a big factor locally in the voting choices people will make on November 4. Yes, people are racist but "it's not mean-spirited or violent - it's just what they grew up with, they have never been anywhere else," mused Hopper. He said there is still a feeling that blacks should stay in their "place," and that place does not include positions of authority like President of the United States. Sue suggested that local folks go for what is most familiar. They look at the candidates and ask "Who is closest to me?" and in this case that means an older white man like John McCain. Bledsoe echoed these points by citing the unwritten rule for racial "harmony" in the South: "as long as everyone follows the rules, you can all get along."

Magoffin County's Doucette does not seem to buy into the idea that rural folks are mired in past prejudices and predetermined responses. She has given out 250 bumperstickers and over 40 Obama-Biden yard signs mostly in the Salyersville area of Magoffin, a county "that got on the front page of the L.A. Times" in the May primary for its overwhelming support for Hillary Clinton. (Even the "Undecideds" got more votes than Obama.) Calls are coming in for Doucette to find signs for Pike and other eastern Kentucky counties, not known for their love of blacks, but always a hotbed of support for candidates who champion the working people - the "pipefitters and carpenters and coal truck derivers," says Doucette.

Back in Lexington, the Herald-Leader's Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Joel Pett struck back at the bigots with an October 5 cartoon that depicts candidate Obama besieged by racists horrors: hung in effigy, campaign sign aflame, shackled to the rear bumper of a car, and being addressed by Colonel Sanders in a Klan hood and holding a bullwhip, saying "Hey man, it's nothing racial..." Pett says, "I did it to blunt the claims and statements I heard on right-wing talk show radio here that race is not an issue [for Kentuckians] and it's the black people who are the racists." He was angered that the anti-Obama pundits are equating "a black person in 2008 voting for Obama" as the same as "a white person in 2008 voting against him." Pett said that in his 24 years in Kentucky he has heard enough people who think they can speak "comfortably" expressing racist statements, to know that is it "absurd" to say that race is not a factor here.

Living in Lexington since 1960, Obama supporter Maureen Tarpey recalled the 1960s as a time of total segregation when the only black people she saw downtown were women working as domestic servants, waiting for the bus. She and her husband were part of the Civil Rights movement here, sitting at the Woolworth's counter with black activists and marching for their rights. She had assumed that was distant history, but with the racist poison she hears every day on a local "6:30 a.m." radio talk show about Barack Obama, she is dismayed to realize that the malevolence remains active. Democratic Party stalwart Brenda McClanahan collects the anti-Obama viral emails and whisper campaign materials she has received, and is chilled by the advice of one to "Go to WalMart and buy a gun...trouble will erupt" after the election, no matter who wins.

Kentucky is looking forward to Election Day on November 4 with fascination, trepidation - and hope.

Comments

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

Reading this and accessing the link to the map with all the hate groups listed for all the states was shocking.Progress in racial matters is very slow,hopefully when Obama takes office more eyes will open to the utter nonsense these hate groups thrive on.My perception of the progress we have made in racial equality over the last fifty years has been reduced substantially since Barack Obama announced his candidacy.We have right wingers on this site that have made comments like "ole purple lips" and even worse.Thankfully we've seen how many people will come out to support Obama and I was equally impressed with that.I think Obama making a visit to Kentucky would be a good thing,I don't believe most people in Kentucky are hateful and it will help to drive the haters further underground.The only thing we can do is educate the people that are victims of their own families and neighbors prejudices,and for the rest of the haters, attrition will finish the job.It's a slow process.

[mossy1]

Just a note about the picture - "No Colors" refers to motorcycle gang jackets, not race.
Otherwise, great post.

[KYBirder]

That hateful intolerants exist everywhere will never excuse or condone any of them. It was shocking and despicable to learn of Corbin’s 1919 incident and recent hate crimes in this area of Kentucky and elsewhere in these “United” States. I am so sorry that these events ever took place and believe the majority of these good local Kentuckians along with the rest of America agree and are NOT racists. Our goal can only be to unite, not divide and invite others to climb aboard and join us in the 21st Century Modern World. Let us learn from history’s mistakes and work to make this a better world for all people! We can and will move forward in this new direction when we elect the best and brightest candidate, Barack Obama President of the “United” States of America.

[HilaryLambert]

There's well-founded talk in KY that Barack Obama may come here in person (it has been almost a year since he was last here) to provide last-minute support for Bruce Lunsford in his unexpectedly strong race against entrenched Senator Mitch McConnell. Savor that -- a black candidate helping out a white candidate in Kentucky!

[naschkatze]

Keep safe "y'all". I admire you so much.

[Hare]

Thanks to all the volunteers and supporters who love this country so much they're risking their safety, you are true Obama soldiers. Pres. BHO will win the election and just be sure (specially if you are black) to stay out of places as the ones described on this blog until the beasts are subdue. Some parts of this country leave something to be desired. Tornados?

[rnhowell]

I was born and raised next door to Magoffin Co. Ky. I was well aware that racism ran rampant throughout my 18 years growing up there. To hear the "N" word was commonplace, unfortunately even among my own family members.
When my father, who still lives in that neck of the woods, told me he was fully supporting Obama and even attempting to convince others in the area to do the same, I knew that indeed attitudes and beliefs could change over time.
Im so proud to hear about Sue Koplowitz standing up for what she believes even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

[neesy08]

RNHowell, I am from Jefferson County, and I ave visit E. KY a couple of times of year for the past 5-7 years. It is a very white part of the state. I wish Obama would win KY, but I doubt it. This state is way too conservative for its good.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

Is conservative the right word/words ?

[gd7277467]

""god loves you for being a part of this special family"....."

Says the Southern daddy to his daughters !

[Freesia2]

Thanks for what you are trying to down there in Kentucky, Hilary.

I was born and raised there, but live up north now with my Yankee husband. However I'm still a Kentucky girl in many ways and my dog is from there too. I walk down the street in the very blue Obama country where I live now, my Obama button on my sweatshirt and she has her Obama button on her halter. Just a couple of Obama Mamas and it's routine to be smiled at and given the thumbs up. It's a different experience than what the Obama Mamas back home experience.

Keep up the good work.

[mommadona]

I'm as white as you can get (freckles and red red hair)..and I am EMBARRASSED of my fellow citizens in the "South" - exclusivity and familial ties keep this stupid "I LOVE to be a monarchy and oh, so special" alive.

I have relatives in the "South" - I know the mindset. Tracing back the "lineage" - keeping it pure(EXTREMELY IMPORTANT).....in some pathetic little ritual of upmanship.

Yes - some are even in the Daughters of the American Revolution

http://www.dar.org/

Bound to the past in an unhealthy way - can you imagine? From the time a child is born into the family, they are "known by their roots", told over and over and over again how "special" they are and that "god loves you for being a part of this special family"....."us versus them" is the lens of choice for viewing the world.

I've actually been on the lookout for any 'secret handshakes" and "writings" amongst the adults.

"So-and-so begat so-and-so begat so-and-so"...so goes the discussions at family affairs/funerals, etc.

Christmas is always one of those weird "royalty in motion" affairs.....

[neesy08]

Not all Southerners are that way. Some of us are progressive and seek change.

[MoeB]

I just have to say, hats off to all of you out there who are out canvassing for Obama in areas like these. It cannot be easy, and I'm sure it gets stressful. My thoughts are with all of you and here's hoping that all of our hard-work and dedication in the face of adversity pays off in two weeks!

[littlepuffycloud]

I love you Sue...after reading some of the hateful death threat stories, your story brought a little tear of joy to my eye. Thank you for your work and courage.

[forcaff]

may GOD have mercy on you racist sons and daughters of satan you do satan proud with your hate you think that we should stay in our place we are in our place we are in the human race maybe you should try it some time.

[EarthToZoey]

Sue Koplowitz -- you're my hero today. Thank you for reminding us that no matter how high the odds are stacked against us, we should press on and fight for what is right. Bless your heart!

[froglianno]

The photo I clicked on to see this story is deceptive. It showed signs that were apparently posted on an establishment that serves alcohol. One said 'NO COLORS.' It is my experience that such signs refer to biker gang colors. Did anyone ask?

[scrzbill]

Gangs in the coal mining areas of Ky? Biker gangs? LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL You probably think the same as Pyglin, that the job of the vice president is to run the Senate. There is this ole sayin. If you don't know somethin about somethin, don't open your mouth and prove what you don't know. I guess the same could be said for those who have never been to the poorest areas of our country. Bootlegging, big business, Why? Blue laws. Dry counties. If you grew up in the south or live in the south then racism is just as happy today as yesterday. Did you happen to read the article about the guy in Ohio who said his white church was against blacks being in power, its against Gawds will.

[froglianno]

Bill,

Calm down. I'm on your side, so to speak. Just trying to avoid wrongly accusing the owner of whatever establishment was pictured. Please note that the author makes no claims to the photo to which I refer.

You may be offending others on your side. I won't give you the satisfaction of offending me.

I am very aware that racism is alive and kicking. Overt racism is less scary to me than the quiet forms. And again, I question the reference to 'colors' in the photo.

[HilaryLambert]

Hi
I am the author of this report, and that is not my photo.
The one I supplied is in the body of the article -- the one of Sue Koplowitz snuggling up to Colonel Sanders.