While doing voter registration in West Philadelphia, a largely African American community 2 days ago I was struck by the sense of fatalism by a small but significant number of Black Obama supporters I spoke with on the street. Being an African-American raised in Chicago I recognized this as the result of generations of social disenfranchisement. To what extent is the specific history of the African-American community in Philadelphia making an impact on their attitudes towards the campaign and how much will this affect voter turnout in Philadelphia which is absolutely essential for Obama not to loose Pennsylvania in a blowout loss to Hillary Clinton next month?
I had heard through word of mouth that the West Philadelphia office for the Obama campaign had opened up on 52nd street in West Philadelphia. Because I could not find any information on the Obama website indicating where exactly the office was and because I live in the general area I decided to ride my bike down 52nd Street to search for it.
As most people may not be familiar with Philadelphia, West Philly is a largely African American section of the city. While there are a number of areas in West Philly that are quite nice huge swaths of this area are blighted by large numbers of abandoned and uninhabitable buildings and sub standard housing. 52nd street is the once impressive now depressed commercial strip that once served as an economic spine for this largely African American community.
On my way to 52nd street to begin my search for the Obama office I had anticipated that West Philadelphia would be fertile ground for the Obama campaign. This community is very similar to the part of Chicago that Obama organized and came up into politics. I am also and African-American who grew up, for some years, in that same part of Chicago. Given the whole Jeremiah Wright controversy, the not so subtle references to Obama’s race by Clinton surrogates I was completely caught off guard when turning south onto 52nd street from Market St. I saw store after store with Hillary 08 signs in their windows. (The picture below is of the Hillary 08 poster in the window of a pawn shop.) This went on for about three or four blocks. To make matters worse I did not see one Obama poster in a single window for that entire stretch. When I finally came across a store with an Obama sign I noticed that it was next to a store with a Hillary 08 sign. Two late 50’ish African American men were standing in front of the store with the Hillary sign.
They seemed like my best chance to find out if and where the Obama office was located. The following is the gist of my exchange.
Me: Do you know where the Obama campaign office is?
Man 1 and Man 2: I think it is down there. Are you trying to get a job with them?
Me: No I am going to volunteer. I’m going to try to register voters – today is the deadline. I am surprised to see so many Clinton posters around here. I would think in this area there would be a lot more posters for Obama.
Man 1 and Man 2: Why because he is Black?
Man 1: We should vote for the best person for the job. It should not be about color.
Man 2: He hasn’t done anything. Name me anything that Obama has done.
Yes folks the discussion went from 0 – 60 mph that fast. I explained to them that as a state senator in Illinois Obama authored legislation that requires the police to video tape interrogations of people they suspect of murder to protect them from being wrongfully convicted as many of the men presently sitting on death row in Illinois are for being poor and Black. I also mentioned the work Obama had done on ethics reform while in the US senate. Having mentioned two things I asked them what has Hillary Clinton done since they asked me the same question about Obama. No response. I pointed out her work on the flag burning amendment, her time on the board of Wal-Mart and how Wal-Mart the largest employer in the US and of minorities have been a major factor in the depression of wages in the US. They were receptive to what I had to say however they had many more points for why they were supporting Clinton. Despite what I said about Clinton and Wal-Mart they again voiced a concern about jobs/ the economy and how Clinton was the one that could and would fix it. In the end they admitted to me that had no reason to vote for Clinton other than they just like her.
The final thing they told me which I have heard from a significant minority of African-Americans in West Philadelphia; Obama will be assassinated and voting for him will facilitate this. Almost as frequently I hear concerns that "They" will find a way to prevent Obama from being president no matter how many votes he gets. Founded or not these worries have been stated enough that I am becoming concerned that they will make at least a small impact on voter turnout in African-American community.
It is obvious that Obama will do very well in West Philadelphia. However people working on Obama’s campaign cannot take for granted the effects the persistent general low morale and ongoing social disenfranchisement will have on voter turnout in this part of town. While I am impressed by the high number of registered voters in the Philly African-American community I do get a sense that there is a significant minority in this community that view his candidacy as a long shot. This perception makes it tough for some members of this community to feel a sense of excitement about his candidacy. Rather I get a sense of this campaign being perceived by some as the last stand at the Alamo –and this sense pre-dates the recent Wright B.S. A sense of excitement would go along way to convince the people like the 2 men I spoke with that Obama is likable too. Not only is Obama the definite front runner it is impossible, at this point, for Clinton to win the nomination by conventional and ethical means. This is spectacular. Simple things like getting official Obama posters in shop windows not only shows the campaign’s presence but also communicates a sense of legitimacy that is often called into question when Black politicians run for office. This would do a lot to allow some in the West Philly community to feel that yes this thing is for real and it is really happening.
One last thing I think is worth mentioning; There is a very brisk business for street vendors selling homemade and bootleg Obama t-shirts, buttons and even graphite drawn posters on 52nd street. This makes for a telling contrast with official Hillary 08 posters in the stores that line the street.