In Which I Get Sappy

by publius

I've got a longer post coming on the racial significance of the 2008 election, but this story is just amazing. Via MyDD, the Austin Stateman reports that a daughter (109 years old) of a former slave cast her ballot for Obama. It's amazing on many levels, but it also reminds us that the awful things we read about didn't happen all that long ago. I mean, my parents were raised in legally segregated communities. Her parents -- in slavery.

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.

. . .

Amanda Jones says she cast her first presidential vote for Franklin Roosevelt, but she doesn't recall which of his four terms that was. When she did vote, she paid a poll tax, her daughters said. That she is able, for the first time, to vote for a black presidential nominee for free fills her with joy, Jones said.

Comments

[bemused]

I urge everyone to read Douglas Blackmon's "Slavery by Another Name" if you think you have to go back to 1863 to reach slavery. This book documents debt peonage in the south that continued well into the 20th century, and was, in fact, slavery by another name.

[bwaage]

Speaking of sappy:
Charlie meets Barack

I think it is humanly impossible not to tear up a bit at the end.

[bwaage]

Or not humanly possible, if I had wanted to phrase it in a way that actually makes sense.

[Anthony Damiani]

I'd disagree with you on emphasis: Didn't happen all that long ago? She's as old as the oldest person I have ever known would have been-- and we're talking about things that happened to her parents, when they were children.

But this quibble aside, the story is inspiring and truly remarkable. Even a cold-hearted cynic like myself cannot help but find it moving.

[publius]

that was great - thanks

[wonkie]

I get sappy about this election more or less all the time. I got sappy today as I barrelled down the country raods with Steven Earle's "The Revolution Starts Now" blasting away on my car CD player. I got sappy reading the Daily Kos diary on the rec list right now, the one with pictures of people satnding in line to vote in Ukraine, Iraq, South Africa, Sierra Leone,Zimbabwe... I get sappy when I wish my dad had just managed to live long enough for this, And so on. But the lady, the daughter of slaves voting for the first AA PResident! Yeah that's another reason to get sappy.

[Gary]

She voted for FDR, how fitting. Obama seems poised to be another leader of that temperament and accomplishment.

[Gary Farber]

"Speaking of sappy:
Charlie meets Barack"

This seems familiar.

[gwangung]

The Daily Kos story wonkie was writing.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[DrDick]

I was raised in Oklahoma under segregation and Jim Crow in the 50s and 60s. I now teach classes on race and ethnicity. I never believed that I would live to see what I am certain I will see on Tuesday. As late as this past spring I would have told you that. The world has moved and we are in a better place than I ever would have believed. We still have a long way to go, however.

[DrDick]

I was raised in Oklahoma under segregation and Jim Crow in the 50s and 60s. I now teach classes on race and ethnicity. I never believed that I would live to see what I am certain I will see on Tuesday. As late as this past spring I would have told you that. The world has moved and we are in a better place than I ever would have believed. We still have a long way to go, however.

[paul]

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[d'd'd'dave]

Good for her. I'm glad she can vote. Does she even care where he stands on the issues?

Or is it his blackness that she likes?

[Pooh]

I get sappy about this election more or less all the time.

I'm not gonna lie, it got a little dusty in the room when I was filling out my ballot at City Hall earlier this week.

[liberal japonicus]

Another one to get sappy about.

From Balloon Juice, which has been firing on all cylinders lately.

[wonkie]

I don'tthink that it is fair to assume that the 109 year olslady is voting for Obama just because he is black. Black people have voted for whites plenty of times. I'm sure that Obama's ethnicity is very very meaningful to this lady but there is no reason to assume thaht she would voe for a black Republican based on sin color. I'd be surprised, given her age and the disabilities likely o accompany great age, if she has read his position papers or his books, but she probably has heard snippets of his speaches or interviews. Besides bama is a good Deomcrat. His policies and positions are predictable. She is a life long Deomcrat so she nows what she is voting for.

I also don't see anything wrong with celbrating our first Black President. That's a good part of my celebration. I am wo damn proud of this country that it hurts.

Znd not only will he be he the first black President, he is named Obama and his opponent has been running a dirty nasty dog whistle campaign esigned to appeal to the worst in our national character. This election has been a test and it looks like we are going to pass.

[heart]

Do McCain voters care about his policies? Or is it his whiteness that matters?

in response to ddd Dave.

[The Conservative Deflator]

She would be a good choice to throw the switch on the electric chair, to electrocute Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, both of whom mock black people for always bringing up slavery.

[cleek]

DNFTT

[publius]

ddd dave - i just erased your last comment. keep it civil.

[KCinDC]

Publius, you might delete Conservative Deflator's while you're at it.

[Minnesota phats]

ddd dave - If I were the daughter of a man born into slavery I'd vote for Pootie Tang if he was on the ballot. As it is, Obama is a good democrat with a very positive message, and he is an exceptionally intelligent candidate who actually thinks and reads.

[Minnesota phats]

ddd dave - If I were the daughter of a man born into slavery I'd vote for Pootie Tang if he was on the ballot. As it is, Obama is a good democrat with a very positive message, and he is an exceptionally intelligent candidate who actually thinks and reads.

[Older]

Some of us are older than others. My mother would be about the same age as this lady, if she were still alive. So it seems pretty close, to me.

[Gary Farber]

"ddd dave - i just erased your last comment."

Since when is that policy here?

What did he say?

[russell]

I'd disagree with you on emphasis: Didn't happen all that long ago?

With the exception of legal chattel slavery, pretty much every form of ungodly hell that has been visited on American black people has not only happened, but has been quite common, in the living memory of lots and lots of folks.

IMVHO it's an extreme overstatement to say that we are now a "post-racial" society. If we're very lucky, our grandchildren *might* live in a world where the fact that someone has black, brown, yellow, or red skin is no more remarkable than if they are 6'1" rather than 5'9". Nobody reading this will see it.

But Obama's candidacy and, if elected, presidency are pretty remarkable achievements.

Thanks -

[d'd'd'dave]

If a black votes for a black BECAUSE the candidate is black it is reasonable and understandable. If a white votes for a black BECAUSE the candidate is black it is reasonable and understandable. If a white votes for a white BECAUSE the candidate is white it is racism.

If a person hangs an effigy of a white vice presidential candidate from their porch it is tasteless but an acceptable free-expression. If a person hangs an effigy of a black presidential candidate from their porch it is tasteless and an illegal hate crime.

Go figure.

[KCinDC]

Yes, Dave, it's almost as if the fact that every one of our presidents so far has been a white man were something other than a series of coincidences.

[Gary Farber]

It's almost as if "whites" held "blacks" in slavery, and not the reverse, and almost as if "whites" are the majority, who tend to favor themselves, rather than "blacks" being the minority.

Gosh, it's almost as if there's something different about the position of the two groups.

How weird that anything else should be different about the two groups. It's just inexplicable.